


Walkabout

by Jiaska



Series: Game Mechanics [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Red & Green & Blue & Yellow | Pokemon Red Green Blue Yellow Versions
Genre: Adventure, Avoiding Gym Challenge, Awkward Conversations, Bike Riding, British English, Constructive Criticism Welcome, Cruise Ships, Friendship, Institutionalized Mind Control, Legendary Pokemon - Freeform, Mind Control, Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery, My Writing Skills Are Rusty, Noticeable Shapeshifters, Odd Coloured Pokemon, Pokemon Battle, Pokemon Biology, Pokemon Death, Pokemon Journey, Pokemon Training, Pokemon Variants, Pokemon Whisperer, Regional Maps, Rewrite, Safari Zone, Shopping Malls, Slow Burn, Video Game Mechanics, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-03
Updated: 2019-03-19
Packaged: 2019-07-24 15:49:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 32,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16178243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jiaska/pseuds/Jiaska
Summary: For as long as Cody could remember he had been able to speak with and understand pokémon. Fearing the sort of attention it could gather, his parents forbade him from getting a pokémon and travelling. An unfortunate situation, as Cody’s only dream in life was to adventure across the world, seeing incredible things and meeting new people.But when he runs across an injured pikachu, he might get a chance to fulfil his dream.Inspired by Pokémon: Yellow. Constructive criticism welcome and appreciated.





	1. Chance Encounter

**Author's Note:**

> This story was taken down for the purpose of being rewritten. I hope that this version proves to be more compelling then the original.
> 
> Image by Zerochan923600 - https://www.deviantart.com/zerochan923600/art/PrideBlade-Commission-759848321

Blitz’s vision became a blur of green as a mixture of adrenaline and venom rushed through his body. He felt queasy; it was like his stomach had tied itself into a knot. Between the pain and the blurry vision Blitz had dropped onto all fours just in an attempt to stay standing. He turned his head around frantically, trying to make sense of the blurry surroundings. It only seemed to make his guts feel worse, and he was left as unaware as when he started.  

While his eyes had failed him, he found that his nose still worked perfectly. Despite the situation, Blitz almost wished he had lost his sense of smell instead.   

On his right side there was a purple pokémon hovering above the ground. Blitz couldn’t make out what species of pokémon it was, but he could identify that the pokémon was the cause of the horrendous stench. To Blitz’s nose it was like being trapped in a room with burning garbage. The rancid odour almost overwhelmed his senses, but Blitz was still able to make out two other pokémon around him. They were surrounding him in a triangle formation. One smelled like venom. Blitz concluded that it was probably the ekans that had bitten him. The last one smelled like rotten fruit.  

Blitz could feel his heart beating like thunder.  

“This seems like a lot of effort for a  _pikachu_ , don’t you think?” a female spoke with a condescending tone.  

“Well, we might as well capture the pathetic thing,” The second voice was definitely male, and he sounded decidedly uninterested.  

Being unable to see in this situation was causing Blitz to panic. He furiously shook his head in a desperate attempt to regain his vision. He was giving himself a headache, along with a mild case of double vision. But, the small pokémon did notice a small improvement in his sight.  

Enough to see that the man was holding a yellow and orange pokéball. Blitz’s eyes widened in shock. That was  _his_  pokéball. He looked around, vision still hindered, but better able to make out the world,  _‘I’m surrounded by an ekans, a weezing, and a meowth...’_ his searching became desperate,  _‘come on, where is she?’_   

“Aww, isn’t that sweet?” The female member of the duo spoke in a mocking tone, “does the little weakling think his trainer’s going to save him?”  

That got Blitz’s attention; he stopped searching and focused exclusively on the duo.  

The male shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t know what to tell ya, she ran away after you were poisoned. Probably figured you were a goner and cut her losses.”  

Blitz gritted his teeth, the duo’s mockery filled him with an uncontrollable rage.  

_‘How_ dare  _they say that about her!’_ was the only thought on Blitz’s mind. The electric pokémon was whelmed in anger. He wanted to hurt these people. That was why he started building an intense charge in his cheek pouches. He planned to zap all five of them at once, retrieve his pokéball, and find his trainer.  

Unfortunately for Blitz, his charging process had the very noticeable side-effect of electrical spikes around his cheeks.  

His actions didn’t cause the response he was expecting. The three pokémon surrounding him didn’t move to stop him. In actuality, they seemed almost bored by his efforts. The female human had started to laugh mockingly and the man had only sighed.  

“I order you to stop that.”  

And Blitz stopped. The electric mouse blinked in confusion. He tried to start charging again, but he physically couldn’t bring himself to.  

The male human casually threw Blitz’s pokéball in the air and caught it, “you’re a bit temperamental. I order you not to attack us, or to run away. Hell, I order you not to move from that position until I tell you to.”  

Blitz felt a weight on his mind with every order. He didn’t understand what was happening, but when he tried to break the orders, to disobey, he couldn’t. The most he could manage was to make his body tremble, but he truly couldn’t move. It was like his limbs were stone.  

“Finally,” the man threw the ball to the woman, “he’s a little too spirited for our needs, wouldn’t you agree?

The woman looked at Blitz with a big grin and a sadistic gleam in her eyes, “so, what are you thinking? A stronger ball?”  

“Precisely,” the man reached into his pocket and pulled out a pokéball, obviously empty by nature of being coloured black and white.  

Blitz couldn’t tell what was so special about the ball. It looked no different from any other empty pokéball. 

The man prepared to throw the ball, “let’s do this clean.” 

She nodded. She placed her hands on the top and bottom of Blitz’s pokéball and started to twist it. Blitz’s heartbeat increased, he was covered in sweat, and his mind was clouded by panic and fear. 

_‘They can’t break my ball! How will my trainer know it’s me? Please no, please no, please no...’_ Blitz’s mind was consumed by these thoughts. He desperately tried to break the man’s orders; if he could only shock them, he would have a change to grab the ball and escape. 

The hinge on Blitz’s pokéball snapped and the ball split into two pieces. Blitz blinked. In that moment, when his pokéball broke, all of his anger, fear, and panic seemed to just disappear. 

He was also able to move again. His momentarily confusion about his emotions kept him from attacking the humans on sight, and when the idea crossed his mind, he wasn’t able to act on it on account of being hit upside the head with an empty pokéball. 

Blitz felt his body turning into energy and being pulled inside of the ball. It was a sensation he had never particularly cared for. He didn’t know what he’d been expecting, but being inside the ball wasn’t unpleasant in the least. 

_‘What am I thinking!’_ Blitz thought to himself defiantly,  _‘I’m not going to be_ owned  _by these jerks! I’m not going to be owned by_ anyone! _’_  

Blitz tried to break out of the pokéball. His attempt was met by resistance from the ball itself, and it made him feel intense pain. It was like he had ran full speed and thrown himself into a brick wall, only the pain that his entire body would be in seemed to somehow be focused on his mind alone. 

He kept trying. He refused to give up, even as the pain increased. It was the worse headache he’d ever had. 

_‘Break out... attack everyone... run away...’_ Blitz repeated this thought, turning it into a mantra. It was all he could focus on as the pain made thinking complex thoughts nigh impossible. 

Eventually, after pushing his mind close to its breaking point, Blitz felt the pokéball’s resistance pop like a bubble. 

Blitz materialized back into the world, to the surprise of the two humans and their three pokémon. 

“How’s that possible?” The female human said. 

Before her partner could respond, Blitz’s let out an explosive discharge. It spread around them like a dome, burning the grass and hitting both the humans and their pokémon. The humans collapsed unconscious, while the pokémon seemed to have had their muscles paralysed. 

Blitz spared only a moment to breath. He didn’t think. He no longer felt a stabbing pain in his mind, only a dull throb, but it was enough to keep him from trying to form a thought.  

The electric type started to run. He didn’t know which direction he had chosen, or where he was going to end up. This didn’t matter to him. His only concern was running away from this situation. It didn’t matter that he was exhausted. It didn’t matter that there was still some lingering venom in his body. It didn’t matter that he no longer had a trainer. 

The only thing that mattered was running.  

So he did. 

* * *

“Viridian City is the closet city to the Indigo Plateau,” Cody shook his head, “No, technically Pewter City’s closer, but there isn’t an easy to follow path. Pewter also has a museum.” 

Cody was reading his favourite map, an activity that he had taken part in countless times before. The map was a more artistic interpretation of the Kanto and Johto regions. It could probably still be used for navigating, but that wasn’t its true purpose. 

“Cinnabar Island has an active volcano,” Cody sighed, running a hand through his curly hair, “why do I have to live in Pallet Town? This place is so boring...” 

It wasn’t an unfair assessment.  

Pallet was a small country town. There wasn’t more than fifty people living there, most of which were either fishers or farmers. There weren’t any tourist attractions, so the reason people visited was because they were travelling from Cinnabar to Viridian, or vice versa. 

Pallet Town’s only claim to fame was the fact that the world-renowned Professor Oak was born, raised, and currently resided there. 

Cody sighed. Although he would never admit it out loud, Cody’s main problem with his home town was the people there. 

“Are we really just going to pretend that this isn’t a problem!” A thunderous voice roared from the living room beneath Cody’s bedroom. 

Cody jumped involuntarily at the sudden noise. He panicked for a moment, before letting out a shaky sigh. In times like this, Cody’s parents were also included in his reason for disliking Pallet Town. 

It was Cody’s father who was yelling. Soon Cody’s mother would shout something back at him. It was a common situation, and as a result of the incredibly thin walls of the house, Cody was privy to  _every_ single argument. They used to terrify him when he was younger, but they didn’t have as much impact now.  

“I wonder if it’s about me...” Cody mumbled sarcastically. It usually was, and Cody had long since grown numb to it.  

Other topics of conversations included, but were not limited to, stressful work, money issues, rumours that were spreading around Pallet Town, or drinking problems. 

“Problem? What problem! It’s not like it hurts anyone!” His mother roared back. 

The boy sighed, “well, that could be either of them...” 

Cody went back to reading his map, “I wonder what it’s like inside a cave...” 

Cody’s mind went wandering. He imagined what it was like to travel from town to town, camping in forests, and seeing interesting landmarks. The boy had a sad smile, “I bet it’s amazing...” 

These was an explosion of noise from down stairs, “yes, I’m worried! Maybe you didn’t notice, but he  _talks_ to pokémon! It’s weird, he hears some pokémon barking, or chirping, and he stops and starts talking with them like it’s completely normal!” 

Cody was unceremoniously ripped from his travelling fantasy. He clenched his teeth. His brow creased, and he could feel the fury rushing through his veins. It was the sort of anger that would either force him to confront his parents, or leave the house altogether. As per usual, he chose the latter. 

Cody rose from his bed and glanced around at his room. He wasn’t the most organised kid in the world, there was clothing littering the floor and draped over the shelves. After a short search he found a black vest, and some red and orange shorts, neither of which were too creased.  

Despite the situation, he smiled. The bright red of the shorts matched his hair. 

“If I’m wearing this, I’ll need to find some stuff that matches...” 

Cody dug through his cupboard searching for some more clothes that would match his red, orange, and black colour theme, “I’ve gotta have something,” the boy mumbled to himself. 

After a few minutes of searching, he found an orange sleeveless jacket with a soft yellow coloured collar and trim. He had also found some yellow socks and some shoes that managed to be red, orange, and yellow all at once.  

He grinned mischievously and got dressed. He looked himself over in the mirror and concluded that it was the sort of outfit that would annoy his father beyond all reason. This made the outfit perfect, in Cody’s opinion. 

As he stepped out of his bedroom the smile on his face vanished. When he stepped into the living room his parents went silent. 

Cody didn’t spare them a glance as he made his way towards the front door, but he could feel their eyes following him. 

 “Where are you going?” His mother asked, her voice hoarse from the prior arguments.  

“Out,” Cody answered dismissively without breaking his stride. 

Before another word could be said on the issue, he opened the front door and stepped outside, slamming it shut behind him. He stood in front of his house for moment, trying to calm down. This was made more difficult by the fact that after a few seconds the ever-familiar sounds of a heated argument filled the air. 

Cody gritted his teeth, “I don’t know what I was expecting...” 

He shook his head, and just walked away from the door. 

Cody could understand why his father was so concerned, but it didn’t make it any easier to listen to. He had been able to understand pokémon for as long as he could remember. His parent had him tested, numerous times in fact, but none of the doctors or psychologists could give a reason for this ability. Even the top authority on the relationships between humans and pokémon, Professor Oak, was stumped. 

The pokémon whisperer in question wasn’t interested in how he was doing it. He was more concerned with how others reacted to it: some people had told him it was ‘unnerving’ watching him hold a conversation with a pokémon, others had said he was only an attention seeker, and very rarely he’d come across someone that believed he was lying and demanded proof. 

_‘They always reacted negatively to the proof, though,’_ Cody thought to himself, subtly watching people as he walked through Pallet Town. 

The people in question gave him quite a wide berth, which he wouldn’t complain about. He could handle being ignored. 

Cody looked around. He’d been walking on auto-pilot, too consumed by his thoughts. He was standing in front of Jason’s house. Despite Cody’s current thoughts, he put a smile on his face as he walked up to front door. The friendship between Cody and Jason was born out of a shared situation; Jason could also understand pokémon. This meant that he had been subjected to similar treatment as Cody. 

Cody started knocking on the door and waited. 

It didn’t take long for Jason to answer the door. He was wearing his pyjamas, with a suspicious look on his face and a beige pokéball in hand. The boy did a double take when he realised it was Cody. Jason looked mildly embarrassed about the situation, which caused Cody to giggle. 

“Sorry, I would’ve called ahead, but I left in a hurry,” Cody shrugged. 

Jason turned his head in thought, and realisation hit him, “ah, I take it you want to go for a walk then?” 

Cody nodded, his grin wavering. 

“Usual spot?” 

“Yep.” 

“Hmm,” Jason hummed, “let’s go then.”  

“Um, are you sure you want to go out like  _that_?” Cody gestured towards Jason’s pyjamas. 

Jason glanced down, reacting with surprise, “good point.” 

Jason turned around and walked back into the house. He came back out seconds later, still wearing the pyjamas. 

Cody stared at Jason bemused, “you’re still wearing pyjamas.” 

The other boy turned his head in confusion, “is that what you meant? I just went to put shoes on...” 

Cody blinked, dumbfounded, before bursting into giggles. Jason could only stare at the other boy in confusion. 

“Come on then!” Cody turned and started walking. Jason sighed, closing and locking the front door behind him. 

The pyjama clad boy ran to catch up, “I am never going to understand your sense of humour, am I?” 

Cody shrugged, “probably not. But honestly, Jason. Just gonna walk around town in your pyjamas, are you?” 

Jason shrugged, “people already think I’m weird, Cody. It can’t get much worse, right?” 

The other boy shrugged, “I guess I can understand that. Out of curiosity, which of us do you think is being stared at more?” 

The boys casually walked through Pallet Town, drawing quite a bit of attention to themselves, for obvious reasons. 

Jason turned his head in thought, “hard to say. We’re walking next to each other, so both?” 

“Fair enough...” Cody nodded. 

* * *

 

The two boys eventually became quiet as they walked, something that was fairly common for the duo. They kept walking through Pallet Town, ignoring stares of onlookers, continuing until they reached the town’s edge. 

Jason was short on breath at this point, “are we there yet?” 

Cody looked around, a blank expression on his face, before nodding, “yep, this is the boundary line between Pallet Town and Route 1.” 

“Wonderful...” Jason trailed off, attempting to catch his breath. He turned to look back at Pallet Town, looking for his house, and trying to avoid thinking about how tiring it was going to be to walk back there. 

Cody shrugged his shoulders, turning away from Jason to gaze at the wide-open space that was Route 1. He was mesmerised by its uneven terrain and fields of wild green grass that stretched all the way to Viridian City in the distance. He stared at the route with a melancholy expression on his face. 

“You know,” Cody broke the silence, “I think this is my favourite place in Pallet Town.” 

“Ah, or it would it be more accurate to say that it is your favourite place in Route 1?” Jason turned back around to look at the other boy. 

Cody let out a sarcastic chuckle, “of course not. We’d have to walk two more steps to actually be in Route 1,” the map enthusiast turned his head up in thought, “I think the boundary line between Route 1 and Viridian city would probably be my favourite place in Route 1. I guess you’ll get to see that pretty soon, won’t you?” 

There was an uneasy quiet between the two boys. 

“I am sorry about this, you know?” Jason’s voice reflected how uncomfortable he was with the topic. 

Despite Jason’s assumptions, Cody merely shrugged in response, “don’t be. If I were able to leave this place, I would. Take the chance while you still can.” 

Jason was at a loss, he didn’t know how to respond to Cody’s lack of anger. Fortunately for him, Cody was quick to change the subject. 

“Tell me Jason, are you planning on taking the gym challenge?” 

Although Jason welcomed the change in conversation, he was still surprised by the topic. He merely nodded his head, before realising that Cody wasn’t looking at him, “probably, yes.” 

Cody turned to look at Jason with a smile on his face, “which means that’s your first pokémon, right?” 

Jason blinked in confusion, before looking at his hands and noticing that he was still holding the beige coloured pokéball. Jason’s cheeks went red, he had completely forgotten that he had the pokéball with him. 

“Yep,” Jason let out a nervous laugh, “do you want to meet him?” 

Cody rolled his eyes, “obviously.” 

The other boy sighed, clicking the pokéball. The ball snapped open, releasing a crimson light. The pokéball’s occupant materialized in front of the two boys. 

The pokémon in question was a quadruped with long ears, with beige coloured fur. It had a large bushy tail with a white tip. It also had a large fluffy collar around its neck, which was the same shade of white as its tail tip. It was about the size of a toddler. 

Before either boy could say a word, the small beige pokémon had already leaped towards Jason. The pyjama clad boy reacted quickly, catching the pokémon in his arms. 

_“Jason!”_ The pokémon exclaimed, radiating excitement. 

Cody tilted his head in confusion, “does he do that a lot?” 

“All the time,” Jason nodded, “hello Gizmo, there is someone I want you to meet.”   

The pokémon, Gizmo, turned his head to the side in confusion,  _“really? Are they like you?”_  

“Kind of?” Jason sounded unsure. 

At that point Cody couldn’t help but let out a light chuckle, drawing Jason and Gizmo’s attention. 

“Sorry, I’m in an overly giggly mood today,” Cody smiled as he turned his attention to Gizmo, “to answer that question, no. Me and Jason really don’t have much in common.” 

Gizmo jumped out of Jason’s arms and walked towards Cody with a curious look in his eyes,  _“but you both can talk to pokémon?”_  

“Yeah,” Cody shrugged, “not sure why though. My name’s Cody, by the way.” 

Gizmo jumped excitedly,  _“this is so cool! I thought only Jason could do that!”_  

Cody sat down on the ground, getting to Gizmo’s eye level, “well think again. You’re an eevee, right? The ones who can evolve into any type?” 

Cody sat down on the ground, getting to Gizmo’s eye level, “well think again. You’re an eevee, right? The ones who can evolve into any type?” 

Gizmo nodded frantically,  _“yep! Although, we can’t change into_ every  _type...”_  

The red-haired boy shrugged, “not yet, but it seems likely. I’m curious, if you  _could_  evolve into any type, what would you choose?” 

“Huh, I never thought to ask that...” Jason spoke up, “what’s your preference, Gizmo?” 

Gizmo looked up in thought, his face clearly showing intense concentration. That expression was slowly overtaken with one of worry. Gizmo’s ears snapped to attention, and he started looking around the surrounding area frantically. 

This obviously drew confusion from the two boys. 

“Gizmo? What’s wrong?” Jason looked around in search of a threat, but everything seemed safe enough. 

Gizmo didn’t respond to the question, instead he ran off into Route 1 at full speed towards some thick grass that was tall enough that the eevee disappeared into it. The two humans wasted no time in following the tiny pokémon. 

“Gizmo! Where are you going?” Jason shouted, but there was no response. 

They kept going and would’ve ran past Gizmo if he hadn’t spoken up. 

_“I’m here!”_ Gizmo’s voice came out shaky, and it was only when Cody and Jason got closer that they realised why. 

Hidden by the tall blades of grass, was a small pokémon who’s most noticeable features were a lightning bolt shaped tail, two long thin ears, its white-yellow fur, and the fact that it was unconscious. 

Cody blinked, “is that a pikachu? On Route 1?” 

“Yeah...” Jason trailed off, equally confused. 

Gizmo, visibly distressed by the situation, tried to explain,  _“he isn’t from around here. Kind of smells like he came from a forest. He’s fairly recently been caught, but his trainer isn’t around. He was recently poisoned, it’s wearing off but it’s still having an effect. I’d also assume that he’s been running for a long time, which led to him fainting from exhaustion.”_  

There was noticeable silence between the two boys as Gizmo looked up at them. 

“How do you know that?” Cody asked, slightly wary of a medical examination given by a pokémon. 

Gizmo rolled his eyes,  _“humans. How do you get anything done with those limited senses? He_ smells  _like a forest, human perfume, low level venom, and sweat. What would you conclude from this?”_ Gizmo shook his head,  _“it’s not important! What are we going to do about this?”_  

Cody was taken aback by the eevee’s words, but he did start thinking. They couldn’t just leave the pikachu there: he was unconscious, poisoned, and apparently had a trainer who was probably looking for him. They couldn’t take him back to Pallet Town, there was no Pokémon Centre and Cody doubted they would be allowed into Professor Oak’s lab. 

Without another thought on the matter Cody picked up the unconscious pikachu and started running towards Viridian City. 

Jason, seeing this, was too shocked to react. 

It was Gizmo running after Cody that shook Jason from his shocked state. 

_“What are you waiting for? He hasn’t got any pokémon to protect him!”_  

Jason, unable to fault the logic, followed behind Cody and Gizmo towards Viridian City. 

* * *

Blitz winced. He was trying to claw his way back into consciousness, not at all helped by the splitting headache he was experiencing. A part of him was surprised that that was the worst of it. After the mad charge he had done, he expected every muscle in his body to be throbbing with intense pain. But instead, Blitz found that his body felt pleasantly numb. 

When he blinked his eyes open, the combination of bright light and white scenery caused him to violently recoil. Even with his eyes closed, Blitz could see various differently coloured spots dancing across his vision. 

“Hey, are you wake?” A voice whispered to the left of Blitz, “how are you feeling?” 

Blitz’s entire body tensed at the realisation of an unknown presence. It caused him a small amount of pain. 

_‘There’s no reason to panic,’_ Blitz reassured himself,  _‘if this guy was going to do something, he wouldn’t have waited until I woke up...right?’_  

Blitz felt his anxiety rising. 

_“I’m fine...”_  Blitz whispered back,  _“who are you? Where am I?”_  

“I’m Cody. Some friends and I were hanging around Pallet Town, when Gizmo smelled you?” Cody seemed unsure of that sentence, “he said that you’d been poisoned and had worked yourself to exhaustion, so we took you to a Pokémon Centre.” 

Blitz took in that information, and re-evaluated his situation,  _‘so, a trainer found me, eh? Well, as long as it wasn’t one of those two, I should be fine,’_ Blitz let out a shake sigh,  _‘important stuff first; was I captured?’_  

Blitz had been born in the wild, before being captured. Now, after his pokéball had been broken, Blitz felt different. It was a subtle difference, but one that Blitz had become overwhelmingly aware of. The more he thought about it, the less sense his actions made, and the surer he was. 

_‘I haven’t been captured.’_  

_“Thanks, I guess...”_ Blitz mumbled. 

“Where’s your trainer?” Cody asked innocently enough, but it caused Blitz to feel bitter. 

It wasn’t her fault that Blitz had been released, but it was her choice to abandon him at the first sign of trouble, when he needed her the most. 

_“Don’t have one,”_ Blitz scowled,  _“I don’t wanna talk about it.”_  

“Oh...” As Cody trailed off, Blitz’s mind surged. That tone of voice told Blitz everything that he needed to know. It was a blend of good-natured empathic sadness and potential hope. 

_‘He’s going to ask me to join his team.’_ The relationship between trainer and pokémon was a stressful one, or at least that was Blitz’s experience. The trainer would expect the world and more of the pokémon, and the pokémon felt almost compelled to do as instructed. In fact, the more Blitz thought about it, the more it seemed like mind control instead of merely a strong compulsion. 

The language barrier didn’t help matters much. 

Blitz softly shook his head,  _“I don’t want to join your team, so don’t ask.”_  

There was a silence in the room for a moment. It lasted long enough that Blitz began to wonder if he’d been so absorbed in his thoughts that he hadn’t noticed Cody leaving the room. 

“I... don’t have a team?” Cody sounded surprised and confused. 

Blitz snickered. The electric mouse would’ve rolled his eyes if the expression could be seen and said eyes weren’t still causing him pain. 

_“If you don’t have a team, how did we get into a Pokémon Centre? Pokémon can’t just waltz in here, you know?”_  

To Blitz’s surprise, Cody started giggling. 

“Okay, I think I get what’s going on here... open your eyes and look at me.” 

Blitz grumbled, his eyes still stung from his first attempt to see, and he knew that keeping them closed for so long hadn’t let them adjust to the light. Slowly he blinked his eyes open and shut, until he could keep them open without being blinded and with only mild pain. 

Blitz looked around the room, but all he could see beyond piercingly white walls, was a human child that he assumed was Cody’s trainer. The electric type did a double take. The child’s fashion sense was very bright. The boy in question was looking at him with a blank expression. 

Blitz was confused, and he kept looking around,  _“okay, I give. Where are you?”_  

The human smiled at Blitz like he’d told the greatest joke ever, “I’m right here.” 

Blitz blinked at the human, his confusion level rising. Suddenly, realisation hit him like a hammer. With the situation fully understood, Blitz did the only rational thing that he could. 

He screamed. 


	2. Unwilling Courier

Eventually Blitz ran out of breath, which stopped his screaming.

The air in the room was awkward. On the hospital bed sat a hyperventilating pikachu, who’s day hadn’t left him much in the way of patience. Blitz had been captured, poisoned, released, almost stolen, and driven to the point of exhaustion. That alone was enough to push someone to the point of insanity, but then he had met a human that could communicate with pokémon. Blitz’s eyes refused to stop staring at the human boy who had broken the small pokémon’s fragile view of the world.

The boy in question was sitting on a chair next to the bed, nervously avoiding the electric mouse’s eye. Cody hadn’t been expecting such a strong reaction. He hadn’t actually had much experience talking to pokémon, but he had never imagined that a pokémon would react so violently to the idea.

The child could hear his father’s words playing over and over in his mind, tormenting him.

Cody let out a sigh, and a false half smile appeared on his face, “I’m sorry about that. I didn’t think... are you okay?”

Blitz tensed when the boy spoke,  _“Well, there goes that theory...”_

The electric mouse shifted around on the hospital bed so that he could easily face Cody.

 _“My day has been a trial,_ _ya_ _know?”_ Blitz shrugged his shoulder, an expression he had learnt from his previous trainer,  _“I guess that was just too much to handle.”_

“Yeah, life gets like that sometimes,” Cody frowned, “I never caught your name, if you have one.”

 _“_ _Oh, it’s Blitz. Nice to meet you,_ _”_ Blitz extended his right arm to Cody.

Cody was bemused by the pokémon's actions for a moment, before reaching out to shake Blitz’s paw. It was short and equally awkward on both sides.

 _“Dang,”_ Blitz shook his head,  _“I thought you might be some sort of hallucination. My luck today is_ awful. _”_

Cody giggled in response.

The air between the two of them seemed to settle, but things were still incredibly awkward.

 _“So...”_ Blitz began, averting his eyes from Cody,  _“I might have jumped the gun earlier, but I was getting the feeling that you were...going ask me something?”_ Blitz sounded unsure by the end.

The human turned his head to the side in confusion, “what sort of something?”

 _“I don’t know!”_ Blitz yelled, slightly embarrassed,  _“I thought you were going to ask me to travel with you, or something.”_

Cody rolled his eyes with a smile on his face, “Aw, that’s just precious.”

 _“Well excuse me! It wouldn’t be the strangest thing about today! Today makes no_   _sense!”_ Blitz threw his arms up in exasperation. Cody found Blitz’s actions to be cute, despite the pokémon's current mood.

“Fair enough...” Cody trailed off, as the idea played across his mind, “hmm, then again, if you  _were_ my pokémon partner, that would mean I could finally leave Pallet Town,” a small grin formed on Cody’s face at the thought.

 _“What’s wrong with Pallet Town?”_ Blitz asked, mildly curious. His knowledge of the world began and ended with Viridian Forest.

“I’m just not happy there, you know?” Cody sighed, “I’m pretty sure that if I wasn’t around, everyone in Pallet would be much happier...”

There was silence between the two. Blitz was staring at Cody questionably, while Cody’s eyes were focused on the floor.

“Well, if you were expecting it...” the pokémon whisperer seemed lost in thought, “could you travel with me?”

Blitz blinked at the question. Despite recent events in the pokémon's life, Blitz found himself seriously considering the situation.

He had recently been caught. A human had found him, wanted him, and had their nidoran beat him down until he had been too weak to resist capture. He had no choice in the matter, but he hadn’t cared until his pokéball was broken later. The more Blitz thought his time with his previous trainer, the more questions he was left with. That wasn’t even taking into consideration the humans that had inadvertently led to his new freedom. By all accounts, Blitz should hate humans after the day he’d had.

 _‘Well, to be fair, this situation isn’t normal...’_ Blitz thought to himself. Being  _asked_ to join a pokémon team? That wasn’t something that humans generally did. There was also the obvious lack of a language gap, which at the very least would make it easier for Blitz to complain.

Blitz shrugged his shoulders,  _“maybe,”_  the electric mouse looked Cody in the eye,  _“but, I reserve the right to breakup this partnership if I think things aren’t working out.”_

The boy was confused by Blitz’s condition, “well, obviously you’d be able to do that. It’s not like I could stop you, right?”

Blitz narrowed his eyes at Cody, but only for a moment,  _“yeah...well, in that case, why not?”_

Silence fell between the two of them once again, but it was more pleasant. The silence didn’t last long, as at that moment the door was flung open.

The sudden sound caused both Cody and Blitz to jump, and turn towards the source of the interruption.

A young woman was standing in the door frame, wearing a strange hybrid of a maid’s outfit and nurse’s uniform. The outfit was grass green in colour, like her hair. Atop her head was a white nurse’s cap with a green cross in the centre.

She did very little to hide the irritation in her expression. She looked ready to lash out at anyone unfortunate enough to have her attention; she was staring at Cody.

Cody gulped, “Hello, Nurse Joy.”

Nurse Joy looked at him, unblinkingly, before stepping into the room to get a better look at her patient, Blitz.

“He’s woken up, it seems. Has he shown any signs of discomfort?” she did nothing to hide how unfathomably uninterested she was.

Cody didn’t speak for a moment, as he tried to figure out how to word his information, “I think he was having trouble opening his eyes for a while, but I think they’ve calmed down.”

 _“Who is this woman, and why does she fill me with dread?”_ Blitz spoke, not looking away from the woman.

Cody glanced at the electric type pokémon, giving him a look that clearly said  _stop talking._

Out loud Cody said, “he seems used to humans, but I don’t think he belongs to anyone...”

Blitz wanted to comment on Cody’s wording, but then he noticed Nurse Joy’s intense glare directed at him. It was chilling.

“Is that so? Well,” as she spoke, Nurse Joy reached into her apron pocket.

Without warning Nurse Joy threw an empty pokéball, evident by it being black and white, at the unprepared pikachu.

A panicked expression crossed Blitz’s face as the ball hit him. His body transformed into the standard red energy, and then was absorbed into the empty sphere. The pokéball didn’t even have the chance to land on the bed before it burst open again.

Blitz landed on the bed, clearly frazzled from the experience. In a blind panic, he launched himself from the bed and started running into one of the room’s corners.

 _“It’s in my head!”_ Blitz screamed, repeatedly throwing himself against the wall.

Cody was horrified. The boy definitely hadn’t been expecting that sort of response, and as he stood there watching Blitz panicking, he found that he had no idea how to help. No other options, he turned to look at the cause of Blitz’s current emotional state, Nurse Joy.

“Why did you do that?” the boy spoke with his anger clear, “what’s wrong with you?”

“What’s wrong?” the Nurse turned to glare at Cody, “that pikachu is wild! I’ve just wasted expensive medical supplies on that pikachu, and for what? Because you felt bad for it?”

Cody was taken aback, but given the situation, he wasn’t in the mood to back down.

“Isn’t a Pokémon Centre’s care free?” 

Nurse Joy rolled her eyes, “nothing’s ‘free’, you naïve child. It’s paid for by the ‘Pokémon Healthcare Tax’, which is why only licensed trainers and their pokémon are allowed to use our services, and you two clearly aren’t either of those.”

“I  _am_ a licensed trainer!”  Cody yelled, “I just...don’t have my license on me...”

Nurse Joy scoffed, “I bet you don’t have a pokéball to capture that pikachu, either, do you?”

The nurse and the child glared at each other for a moment. It was Nurse Joy who looked away first. With a roll of her eyes she turned to leave the room. She stopped in the door frame, “considering the fact that he could fight off the influence of the pokéball, never mind the  _clear_ coordination it takes to throw oneself into a wall, I’d say that pikachu is healthy enough to leave,” she glanced back at the boy, “as in, get the hell out of my Pokémon Centre.”

With that, Nurse Joy left the room.

Cody glanced at Blitz, who had stopped throwing himself at the wall and was now just standing there, trembling.

Cody sighed, “I wasn’t expecting that.”

* * *

Leaving the Pokémon Centre wasn’t without incident. Cody had attempted to pick Blitz up; he was electrocuted for his efforts. It had snapped Blitz back to his senses, and the two quickly left the Pokémon Centre walking side-by-side.

Cody glanced around, mildly annoyed, “I can’t see Jason or Gizmo.”

 _“Who are they?”_ Blitz mumbled, trying to suppress his trembling.

Cody looked down at the electric mouse, it was clear that the panic from earlier was still affecting him, “Don’t worry, they’re just some friends of mine.”

 _“Oh,”_ Blitz said so quietly that Cody barely heard it.

Cody stopped next to the Pokémon Centre’s entrance. He needed to sort out his thoughts on recent events.

Firstly, he and Blitz had agreed to a partnership, although Cody was unsure if Nurse Joy’s actions had changed Blitz’s mind on the subject.

Secondly, the pokémon that he might be teaming up with was currently ‘wild’, in the sense that he wasn’t connected to a pokéball. That was a major issue.

Thirdly, there was the issue of Blitz’s panic attack and why it had happened in the first place.

Given the circumstances, Cody figured that the last one was the most crucial issue at the moment.

“Hey, Blitz?”

The pikachu jumped at his name, turning to look up at Cody.

_“Y-yeah?”_

“I know it’s a sensitive topic, but what exactly happened earlier?” Blitz turned his head to the side in confusion at the question, “I meant, with the pokéball."

Blitz shuddered,  _“honestly, I’m still trying to piece together my thoughts, but I think there is something seriously dangerous about them._ _”_

“Well...that’s worrying,” Cody sighed, “but, you do want to travel with me, right?”

Blitz nodded.

“But if you don’t want to be...” Cody stopped, he was about to say ‘caught’ but he didn’t think Blitz would care for the phrasing, “connected to a pokéball, we’ll run into issues.”

Blitz tensed, looking at Cody with an accusing glare,  _“what sore of issues?”_

“Well...” Cody sighed, “what if someone realizes that you’re actually wild, and tries to capture you? They wouldn’t be able to do that if you were already connected to a ball.”

Blitz panicked at the idea of being captured by someone else for all of three of seconds, before letting out a sigh and slouching. The electric mouse looked completely defeated,  _“let’s_ _just do it, then._ _”_

“Sorry,” Cody mumbled. Seeing Blitz’s depression felt like a punch to the gut. He was also concerned about what had caused Blitz’s deep discomfort for pokéballs.

The boy looked up, scanning the area for a market. It was in that moment that Cody noticed the small crowd that was staring at them. Their faces held a mixture of different emotions, some were confused, others were intrigued, and there were even a small group of people that looked to be fearful.

Blitz had also noticed the crowd, which was as good a distraction as any as far as he was concerned.

_“Why are they looking at us?”_

Cody sighed, “we’re just talking. Trust me, you’ll get used to it eventually,” the boy started walking, “come on, I found the market.”

They walked in silence, both needing the time to process the situation.

Viridian City wasn’t the most interesting place in the Kanto region by any stretch of the imagination, but by virtue of being the first place that Cody had been to that wasn’t Pallet Town, he looked at the place with near limitless intrigue.

The city was like a blend of different styles.

There were cement pathways, but Cody didn’t see any cars. He considered that odd but he didn’t pay it much mind. The houses were rustic in nature, wood and tiled roofs. There was a healthy amount of nature mixed with the budding city-scape. The houses all had hardens, there was a park that was grassland and there were swings, slides and seesaws.

One thing that stuck out to Cody was the wild pokémon.

Beige blurs, rattata, scurried across the city streets. Brown figures in the sky, pidgey and spearow, would return to their nests, sometimes on trees or roofs.

The pokémon simply existed as part of the city with no issue, mostly they would ignore the people, and the people returned the courtesy.

It was different to Pallet Town, where most people saw the local pokémon as pests and did everything in their power to keep the wild pokémon outside of the town’s borders.

The boy would have pondered these differences longer, but they had arrived at the market.

The market was similar in design to the Pokémon Centre, except for the bright blue roof and the logo above the door that read, “ **Market** ” in bold letters.

Cody entered the market with Blitz following along dejectedly, resigned to his fate.

Cody sighed when entering the building, it had air-conditioning, which was a welcome change from the thick summer heat. There were shelves of generic grocery supplies, but anything directly related to pokémon was behind the counter for safe keeping.

While walking to the counter, Cody noticed the other customers were giving him odd glances, probably he had a pokémon following him around, which was understandable at least. 

The cashier noticed Cody and put on a fake smile for him, which Cody returned.

“How can I help you today?”

Cody checked his pockets for money. He sighed in relief when he found enough for one pokéball, “I need one pokéball, please.”

“Of course. I’ll just need to see your trainer license.”

There was silence for a moment, before Cody began to chuckle nervously. Blitz looked up at him with confusion, while the cashier’s façade dropped slightly with a raised eyebrow.

“Is there something wrong?”

“I forgot my license at home,” Cody shrugged, “could you just give me the ball? It’s only the one, right?”

The cashier grinned in a smug manner while shaking his head, “I’m terribly sorry sir, but no license means no pokémon based products. You said you left it at home? Just go fetch it, we’ll still be open, ya know.”

Cody gritted his teeth in annoyance, “come on man, I’m from Pallet Town. That’ll take me two hours, at least!”

“Pallet Town?” the cashier rolled his eyes, “likely story. Pass your trainer license test, and then we’ll talk.”

Blitz’s eyes widened and a large grin appeared on his face,  _“does that mean no_ _poké_ _ball_ _? I’m free!”_

Cody glared at the pikachu, before turning back to the cashier, “look, I need a pokéball right now. Is there  _anything_ I can do to convince you to let this slide?”

For a moment it looked like the cashier was going to decline, before a gleam of inspiration appear in his eyes.

“You know what? Maybe. You said you were from Pallet, right?”

Instantly, Cody became wary of the conversation, “yeah?”

“Well, I’ve got a parcel for one Professor Oak, and he lives in Pallet Town, right? The thing is, I don’t have the staff to send it to him, and he can’t find time to pick it up. If you were to deliver it for me, I’d totally give you a pokéball,” the cashier smiled at Cody.

Blitz chuckled,  _“oh, he’s cheeky.”_

Cody glanced at Blitz, before rolling his eyes with a nod, “yeah, okay, you see the thing is, I don’t have plans to go back to Pallet any time soon. Like ever, so if there’s anything else I can do for you?”

The cashier shrugged, “I’m sorry then, nothing I can do.”

Cody sighed, and left the store grumbling. Blitz followed behind him as he went. While Cody’s mood had fallen, Blitz’s had notably improved.

“Unbelievable,” the boy mumbled to himself.

 _“Yeah, real shame that,”_ Blitz quipped,  _“what’s the plan now?”_

Cody rolled his eyes, looking up in thought.

“We go to Pewter City. There’s a gym there, and that means there is a Gym Leader. Gym Leaders have the authority to oversee trainer tests, meaning I could get a replacement license and get a ball there,” Cody blinked, as if to internalize his own logic, before heading off towards the boundary line between Viridian City and Route 2.

_“Wait a sec, isn’t there a gym around here somewhere? I vaguely recall my old trainer talking about it once or twice.”_

“Yeah, but the local gym is basically abandoned,” Cody shook his head, “No one’s been in there for months.”

Blitz shrugged,  _“alright then, let’s see how this pans out.”_

* * *

There was a single clear path that led from Viridian City to Route 2, a path that was clear and simple, with no chance of getting lost. Of course, there were other ways of getting to Route 2, but they involved going through a dense collection of trees, and once inside wild pokémon encounters would be a nightmare to manage.

That was the reason why Cody desperately wanted to go through the clear path, and the reason why being denied that right rubbed him the wrong way.

Standing in front of Cody, just before the boundary line between the city and the route, was a tipsy old man with rosy cheeks and a much younger woman in a white dress who seemed to be concerned about the older man.

They hadn’t paid Cody any mind, he’d even been trying to give them some space as he walked around them, until out of nowhere the old man turned towards Cody, and started shouting.

“Oi! Where do you think you’re going?” the man’s words were slurred, and once the panicking sensation left, Cody realized that the man was drunk.

“I was heading towards Route 2,” Cody said slowly, pointing to the route in question.

“You can’t do that! This here is private property!” the old man yelled in Cody’s face.

Cody’s eyes narrowed in response and the woman pinched the bridge of her nose in exasperation.

Blitz, however, was laughing manically,  _“your luck is terrible!”_

Cody took a deep calming breath before responding to the man, “sir, your property is the only safe path through to Route 2. May I please use it?”

The man reached into his pocket, “if you don’t leave, I’m calling the police!”

“Grampa, no!” the woman shouted, quickly grabbing the phone from the inebriated old man.

She turned to Cody with a pleading look, “I’m sorry for the inconvenience, but could you come back later? He isn’t going to calm down any time soon.”

“Give me that!” the drunk man yelled, making a grab for the phone.

Cody just stood there, his eye twitching involuntarily, listening to Blitz nearly choke on his laughter.

The pokémon whisperer turned around, heading back towards Viridian City.

Blitz followed, breathing irregularly because of his intense laughter,  _“and then?”_

The boy sighed, “delivering the package...”

* * *

“Today has been ridiculous!” Cody said dramatically, as the duo closed in on the boundary line between Route 1 and Pallet Town.

The trip had been long, but insignificant. Most wild pokémon that they ran into could be convinced to leave them alone when Cody introduced himself, and Blitz was having fun electrocuting the ones that didn’t.

Throughout it all Cody had been complaining non-stop about how they’d been delayed back in Viridian City.

Blitz rolled his eyes,  _“yeah, I know. You’ve been talking about it for an hour now. Let’s just deliver this, and we can rob me of my free will with a_ _poké_ _ball_ _.”_

Cody stopped walking, eyes wide with shock, “what?”

Blitz stopped as well, turning to face Cody. He looked the boy in the eyes while maintaining an intentionally blank expression.

 _“I’ve thinking about this since I woke up in that hospital bed,”_ Blitz shrugged,  _“I’m pretty sure that_ _poké_ _balls_ _, in one way or another_ _, mess with a_ _poké_ _mon’s_ _thoughts... and actions.”_

Cody let out a nervous chuckle, “quit joking Blitz. People wouldn’t do that...that’s  _horrible._ ”

 _“Cody,”_ Blitz spoke seriously,  _“I’m not joking. Why do you think I freaked out earlier? It’s because I’ve been caught before, and I really don’t want to do it again. I only agreed to let you catch me, because I think at least you’ll be kind to me after I lose myself again._ _”_

Cody’s breathing became shaky. The boy looked around nervously, making sure that the two were alone, before sitting on the ground so that he was on Blitz’s level, “how about you tell me how you came to this conclusion, okay?”

Blitz shrugged,  _“I noticed something was odd when my_ _pokéball_ _broke. I used to have a trainer, she was called... Alice, I think. I was only with her for a day or two, it’s sort of vague, but I loved her. We went to a Route I wasn’t familiar with to_ _for a while_ _, when we were ambushed._

_To make a long story short, I was poisoned. Alice abandoned me for some reason,_ _it_ _doesn’t really matter why. One of the people that ambushed us got ahold of my_ _poké_ _ball_ _and ordered me not to try and escape...and I followed that order,_ _despite_ _my efforts to attack them or run away._

_I remember them bad mouthing my trainer, and I got really angry about it. But then they broke my ball, I think they were going to_ _transfer_ _me to another one that would have more of an effect on me._

_The thing is, Cody, when the ball broke, I wasn’t forced to follow their orders anymore. I also wasn’t angry_ _about what they’d said about Alice, in fact, I didn’t care about her anymore._

_The rest of the details aren’t import_ _ant_ _...but that’s how I ended up unconscious wherever you found me. I’ve been thinking about this ever since I woke up, and I’m sure now. A_ _pokéball_ _makes a_ _pokémon_ _infatuated with their trainer beyond reason, it also forces you to follow the instructions of whoever holds the ball without question. Or, at least that’s what it seems like._ _”_

Cody blinked. The boy tried to absorb the information. He didn’t think Blitz was lying to him, but at the same time the boy wished he was. What he had heard couldn’t really be true, could it? How had he not known about this?

“Blitz...” Cody let out a calming breath, “if that’s true, we’re not doing this. I won’t capture you, or any other pokémon. I’m so sorry that I didn’t ask earlier, I didn’t-”

 _“Hey, hey, calm down,”_ Blitz held up his paws in stopping gesture,  _“I don’t blame you for any of this. I just wanted you to know about my prior experience with_ _poké_ _balls_ _. I still wouldn’t mind traveling with you."_

Cody blinked, “really?”

 _“Sure, why not?”_ Blitz shrugged,  _“There might still be a way,_ _ya_ _know?”_

Cody looked up in thought. Beyond Blitz’s input, he really didn’t know much about how pokéballs functioned. He trusted Blitz’s word, but maybe there was someone who could shed a light onto how all of this worked?

A thought occurred to Cody. He turned his head to look towards Pallet Town, and even from his position on the ground he could still make out the roof of Professor Oak’s laboratory.

“Okay, I think we need to gather some more information,” Cody dragged himself up from the dirt pathway, “let’s go talk to the world-renowned Professor Oak, okay?”

Blitz nodded his head, mildly worried about what he’d done to the boy’s psyche.

Before Blitz could respond, Cody had ran off full force into Pallet Town, leaving behind a mildly confused pikachu.

  _"Hey! Wait up!"_  Blitz yelled, running after him.


	3. Heated Debate

All eyes in the lab turned when the front door slammed open. That included some lab assistants, an array of pokémon both local and exotic, Jason, Gizmo, and the pokémon researcher himself. 

Out of all the things that could have been standing in that door frame, no one had been expecting a young red-haired boy to run in, visibly exhausted and hanging off of the door frame like his life depended on it.  

“I am out of shape,” the boy mumbled to himself. 

A pikachu ran up to the boy, climbing up the length of the boy’s body and stopping on his shoulder. The pokémon gave the boy a displeased look. 

“Not a word, Blitz. Not a word,” Cody huffed, standing up straight and scanning the small audience he had accidentally gathered, and his eyes widened in surprise. 

“Jason? What are you doing here?” The boy rolled his eyes with a smirk on his face, “and why are you still wearing your pyjamas?” 

The scientists in the room changed their focus from Cody to Jason, who indeed was still dressed like he was about to go to bed. It was clear by looking at the scientists’ faces that they were curious about the connection between the two boys. 

Jason ignored all the extra attention, shrugging his shoulders before responding. 

“I had an appointment with Professor Oak concerning excess pokémon partners,” the pyjama clad boy explained, “after escorting you to Viridian, I didn’t have much time left before the appointment, so I didn’t have a chance to change.” 

Cody nodded in understanding, “makes sense, I guess.” 

“Now that that’s sorted out,” Professor Oak spoke in a stern voice, drawing everyone’s attention, “why exactly are you here?” 

Cody was too nervous to speak up, until the professor chuckled good-naturedly. Letting out a sigh of relief, Cody started to explain the situation. 

“Two things, actually. Firstly,” he reached into his bag while walking towards the older man, “special delivery from a market up in Viridian City.” 

“My, this is a surprise, you’ve saved these old bones a trip,” Oak smiled when looking at the parcel. The Professor’s expression quickly shifted as a thought occurred to him, “but why are  _you_ delivering this to me? You’re much too young to be working, right?” 

Jason cut in before Cody could answer, “why did you even go to the market? Wasn’t your only concern making sure that the pikachu was okay?” 

Cody and Blitz shared a look. The electric type nodded his head, and Cody turned his attention back to Professor Oak and Jason, “that’s true, Jason. The  _lovely_  Nurse Joy examined Blitz here, and gave him a clean bill of health. In the  _nicest_ way possible,” Cody rolled his eyes dismissively, while the lightning coloured pokémon on his shoulder shivered at the memory, “and after that, well, we got to talking. We agreed to travel together, but I needed a pokéball to ‘catch’ him,” the boy said the word with some discomfort. 

_“And Cody forgot his trainer license,”_ Blitz threw in, not expecting to be understood. He was mildly surprised when Jason nodded his head in response. 

Cody sighed, “so, with all my choices heading to dead ends, I was sort of desperate. A cashier in Viridian said he’d give me a pokéball if I delivered this parcel. That’s reason one.” 

Professor Oak nodded his head, a neutral smile on his face, “so, what’s the second reason for this visit, Cody? Something on your mind?” 

At that Cody’s demeanour swiftly shifted. While before he had seemed merely tired, he now looked quite troubled. It was like he was going to panic attack at any moment. 

Jason, who was usually a tad detached from other people noticed the shift instantly, “are you okay?” 

Cody shook his head, “no, not really,” the boy focused his worried look on Professor Oak, “the other reason I wanted to talk to you, professor, was because I talking to Blitz here, and...” 

The boy stopped to look at pokémon on his shoulder, “is it okay for me to tell him what you told me?” 

Blitz seemed to be distant, like his mind was miles away,  _“sure, tell him. What’s the worst he could do?”_  

The eevee, Gizmo, spoke up with a blank look on his face,  _“do you have any idea who that is?”_  

_“That’s Professor Oak, an old man,”_ electricity sparked from Blitz’s cheek pouches menacingly,  _“and_ I _can generate enough raw energy to power a small house. I repeat, what’s the worst that he could do?”_  

Gizmo gave the electric type an offended look, but the argument between the two pokémon was stopped before it could get going when Cody and Jason gave their respective pokémon a look. 

Cody looked back at Professor Oak, and let out a sigh, “okay, to cut a long story short, Blitz used to have a pokéball. He currently doesn’t. When he did, these some of the troublesome effects,” the boy took a calming breath, “firstly he seemed to be unnaturally friendly with his previous trainer, and secondly, if given an order, like ‘don’t move a muscle’ he seemed physically compelled to follow the order. I’d never heard about anything like this before, so I was wondering if you could shed some light on this?” 

The older man let out an uneasy laugh. He looked quite nervous at the news, “oh, that? Nothing to worry yourself about. Most pokéballs that are sold commercially come with mild anti-aggression and obedience subroutines built into them as a safety feature. Your pikachu was probably just surprised by its new-found aggression.” 

There was a silence in the lab that lasted about half a minute. It took that long for the professor’s words to sink in.  

_“Mild anti-aggression?”_ Blitz was livid, his cheek pouches sparked threateningly,  _“I don’t remember agreeing to anything like that!”_  

“Blitz took offense to that,” Cody was uneasy while looking at Professor Oak, “you  _are_ aware that you’ve just described mind control, right?” 

Professor Oak took a nervous step back, as the electric mouse’s threat was clear despite the language barrier, before processing Cody’s comment. 

“It’s not mind control!” The Professor shook his head in the negative, “the anti-aggression effect is only in place to stop pokémon from attacking their trainers,” Oak shrugged his shoulders, “it’s for your safety, you understand?” 

Before either Cody or Blitz could respond to the Professor’s words, Jason cut into the conversation. 

“Professor?” The pyjama clad child waited until he had the group’s attention, “You are too smart to be this stupid.” 

“I’m sorry,” Oak was visibly taken aback, “did... did you just call me stupid?” 

“Yes, it was the simplest description available,” Jason nodded, “question Professor; are pokémon unable to harm their trainer? Without question?” 

“Of course, that’s why it’s standard,” Oak raised a brow wearily, “what are you getting at here?” 

“Here’s a hypothetical,” Jason turned away from the professor. The boy started to pace back and forth through the lab, “every time a pokémon faints, that pokémon is  _punished._ Punishments include; restricted food, repeated physical assaults, and denied access to Pokémon Centres...” 

Professor Oak grew visibly more troubled as Jason went on, eventually looking extremely disturbed. 

“I am shocked that you would suggest such a thing, Jason!” Oak shook his head, “where did you get such horrible ideas?” 

Jason stopped pacing, turning to look at the group. Oak continued to look appalled, while Blitz was cautiously watching Jason, ready to attack at the first sign of explicit danger. Cody and Gizmo, on the other hand, didn’t seem fazed by Jason’s dark speech. 

Jason shrugged, “television. Stories about pokémon abuse appears on the news occasionally,” the boy shook his head, “horrible people. I always wondered why the pokémon didn’t defend themselves. It didn’t make sense to me. But,” Jason cast sombre look towards Oak, “if pokémon lack the choice to freely attack, what stops trainers from assaulting them? Your description of standard pokéballs implies that pokémon are incapable of defending themselves in this context.” 

Jason coughed, “in short, you are far too  _smart_ to be this incredibly  _stupid._ Please prove that statement false.” 

Oak blinked, taken aback by the boy’s rant. He looked the two boys in the eyes, and what he saw in them made his stomach twist into knots. It was a desperate hope, a hope that there had been a misunderstanding between them. A moment passed, and Oak’s face steeled itself. 

“Although it’s horrible to say, the situation as it stands is safer than the alternative,” the knots twisted tighter as he saw that hope shatter, “I would recommend that you both learn to deal with that.” 

Jason raised a brow, “have you?” 

There was a mild twitch in the Professor’s eye. He then turned away from the two boys to collect himself. 

Cody rolled his eyes, “dial back the guilt tripping, Jason.” 

“Too much?” 

“A little,” Cody nodded. 

_“I disagree,”_ Blitz spoke up from Cody’s shoulder,  _“sometimes you’ve gotta twist the knife a little.”_  

“I’m just saying, I’d rather solve the problem than stand around here discussing it,” Cody sighed, clearing his mind and thinking back through the recent conversations. 

The boy’s eyes lit up as a thought occurred to him, “professor, I’m curious about something.” 

The man sighed, “yes, Cody? What is it?” 

“You said that  _most_ pokéballs had this ‘subroutine’. So, that must mean that some pokéballs  _don’t_ have this ‘feature’, right?” 

The professor seemed to be debating something back and forth with himself, before ultimately letting out a sigh of defeat, “technically, there is such a thing. But those pokéballs are quite expensive, and they aren’t sold in your general market place. You’d have to contact Silph Corporation directly, and even then, they won’t sell them to you unless you have a research license,” Oak looked up, apparently in deep thought, “I suppose you could also import them from Johto, a slight...cultural difference means that their pokéballs function differently, but the import costs would be quite high...” 

“But to clarify,” Jason cut the man off, “these pokéballs do not influence a pokémon’s free will, right?” 

Oak merely nodded. He spun around, so that he could search through the various draws behind him. He pulled out a small cardboard box, along with a handful of empty pokéballs, as evidenced by their black and white colouration. 

“These are  _‘Behavioural Study’_  pokéballs,” the professor took one out so he could show it to the boys, “you can tell because there is a small  _‘B’_  embellished on the bottom,” true to his word, there was a  _‘B’_ on the black side of the pokéball. 

“The original idea was that if research needed to be done on a rarer or foreign species of pokémon, these pokéballs could be used to transport pokémon, with no effect on the pokémon’s natural behaviour. Now, I only have six of these, but I can see that this is a very serious issue for you two.” 

Oak handed three pokéballs each to both boys. 

“Since a research license is required to purchase these pokéballs, you two will need to contact me if you want more. I’m sure we can work something out.” 

Cody looked down at the three balls in his hands, and he could feel his guts twisting. It was the answer to his personal issue, but they didn’t change how he felt about the situation with the standard pokéballs. Most trainers used them without question, and the reality of it was too much for Cody to come to terms with in that moment. 

The boy’s focus shifted to the pokémon on his shoulder, who had started watching him intently. Blitz didn’t seem as fazed by the situation as him, but the boy supposed that was because he hadn’t learnt how to read Blitz’s expressions yet. 

_“Stop worrying for a moment,”_ Blitz whispered, perhaps so it wouldn’t be overheard by Jason or Gizmo,  _“we’ll talk about it later. And don’t forget to breath.”_   

Cody nodded, let out a breath he hadn’t noticed he’d been holding. He looked over at Professor Oak, who’s expression was unreadable to the child, “thank you for your time, professor. I think I need to go and... process this stuff.” 

Oak nodded, “that’s understandable. Make sure to keep in touch, you two.” 

Both boys nodded, and swiftly left the laboratory. 

* * *

After leaving professor Oak’s lab the group of four gathered outside Jason’s house. Jason had calmed down, and was trying to explain the implications of the situation to Gizmo, who wasn’t really getting it. 

Cody and Blitz, on the other hand, were sitting on the ground. They were staring at each other, neither knowing what to say. 

Cody had the special pokéball in his hand. He stared at it intensely, and his mind went into overdrive. It was like taking everything he knew about the world and looking at it with new, jaded, eyes. 

Blitz noticed this, and rolled his eyes. Cody was simple to read, and Blitz found the human’s panic to be troublesome. 

_“I don’t trust this,”_ Blitz said, trying to get Cody’s attention. 

The boy blinked rapidly, as if he had just been pulled from a deep thought, “huh?” 

_“That.”_ Blitz nodded towards the ball in Cody’s palm.  _“Oak could’ve been lying, just trying to get rid of some weird kids,”_ Blitz shrugged his shoulders,  _“I mean, it’s what_ I’d  _do.”_  

There was a dismissive scoff from behind Blitz, who’s simultaneously felt a sting of annoyance. The electric mouse turned his head and saw an eevee giving him a condescending look. 

_“You got something you want to say?”_ Blitz snapped back, losing hold of his temper for a moment. 

Gizmo rolled his eyes,  _“maybe you’d lie to get your way, but Professor Oak isn’t like you. If he said those balls are different, then they’re different. No questions.”_  

_“Well, excuse me for not blindly trusting a human I’ve never met,”_ Blitz rolled his eyes,  _“besides, if you’re wrong, I’m back to being an overly excited and blindly faithful personal minion.”_  

_“Oh please. Do_ I  _act like that?”_ Gizmo turned his head in a questioning manner. 

Blitz looked up in thought,  _“well, now that you mention it... were you caught by Oak? Because you seem quite... defensive of his reputation.”_  

Jason blinked, surprised at the implication, before checking the bottom of Gizmo’s pokéball. The pyjama clad boy let out a sigh of relief, “this has the ‘B’ on it.” 

The electric pokémon grinned at this,  _“great! That means we can test this before_ I  _do it.”_ Blitz turned to look at Gizmo,  _“when Oak caught you, if that’s what happened, did you notice a sudden and unexplainable love for the man?”_  

Gizmo sighed,  _“no dice, I was born and raised in that lab. He’s like a parent to me.”_  

Blitz let out a weary sigh,  _“of course you were...”_  

“We could try giving him an order,” Cody mumbled. 

Jason blinked, clearly confused, “what?” 

Blitz’s response was quite different, as he gave an excited jump at the idea,  _“of course! Normal pokéballs make pokémon follow orders without question. If you give Gizmo a direct order, and he doesn’t do it, then we know these balls are serious!”_  

Gizmo rolled his eyes,  _“really? Pokémon disobey their trainers all the time, what’s this actually going to prove?”_  

_“How often do trainers use the words, ‘I order you...’ exactly?”_ Blitz crossed his arms,  _“people don’t talk like that, therefore people don’t notice,”_ Blitz looked at Jason,  _“could you please just order him to do something for my peace of mind, please?”_  

Jason nodded, “okay. Gizmo, I order you to attack Blitz.” 

Gizmo’s expression went blank. He calmly walked over to Blitz, and proceeded to whack the electric mouse upside the head. 

The boys were quickly overcome with dread at the event, while Blitz could only stare at the other pokémonblankly, left completely speechless. 

Gizmo stared back at Blitz for a moment, for bursting into giggles.  _“Ah, lighten up! It’s just a joke.”_   

No one moved for a moment. Cody and Jason glanced at each other, both equally unsure how to react. 

Blitz didn’t have that problem. 

_“What the hell is wrong with you?”_ Blitz yelled,  _“we’re trying to figure this mess out, and you’re playing jokes?”_  

Gizmo rolled his eyes,  _“look, if you guys are gonna make such a big deal out of nothing, then I’m going to have to try and entertain myself.”_  

_“A ‘big deal out of nothing’?”_  Blitz glared at the beige coloured pokémon,  _“are you trying to be cute?”_  

_“Not at all,”_ Gizmo shook his head,  _“I just think it’s a stupid thing to worry about.”_  

The electric type couldn’t suppress the twitch in his eye,  _“so you think I’m stupid?”_  

_“Well, if the ball fits...”_ Gizmo smirked 

Blitz was overcome with a cold rage. Electricity crackled at Blitz’s cheeks, and in a flash of blinding light Gizmo had been shocked. The beige quadruped was staggered for a moment, before shaking it off and taking on a scowl before rushing to tackle Blitz. 

Blitz didn’t react in time, and Gizmo rammed him at full force. The extra momentum and weight of the eevee caused the lightning mouse to lose balance, and the both tumbled over in a pile. 

Eventually they both regained their senses from their loss of balance, got to their feet and continued their fight. 

Blitz fired a bolt at Gizmo with so much power that the beige pokémon’s fur stood on end. This shock had been more difficult for Gizmo to shake off, but he hadn’t given up yet. 

Gizmo ran circles around Blitz, causing the electric type to become dizzy while trying to follow him. Before Blitz could figure out what was going on, Gizmo had appeared behind him and proceeded to bite into Blitz’s shoulder hard enough for a red smear of blood to appear on the mouse pokémon’s pale fur. 

Blitz shocked Gizmo with a light voltage on reflex, before jumping back to gain some distance. 

The two pokémon glared at each other. 

* * *

Cody and Jason had started backing away from the two pokémon the moment that Blitz had started yelling. They now watched the fight unravel, unsure what they were supposed to do. 

“Shouldn’t we be stopping this?” Jason asked, watching the disagreement turn into a full-blown brawl. 

After a moment where Cody didn’t respond, Jason turned to the other boy and found him watching intently. 

Jason sighed, “Cody! What are we gonna do?” 

Cody blinked. He looked started, as if he’d just been pulled from an intense thought. He looked up, brow furrowed, “well, you see, I’m conflicted. Gizmo bit Blitz hard enough to draw blood, but biting is a legitimate move in an official pokémon battle, right?” 

Jason stared at the red-haired boy, overcome with exasperation, quickly shaking his head in disbelief, “yes. Yes, it is. But this isn’t an official pokémon battle. In actual fact, this is pointless.” 

“I disagree,” Cody shrugged, “Blitz has had a stressful day, what with the earth-shattering revelations, the poisoning, that horrid Nurse Joy, and Gizmo’s... did Gizmo go crazy in the last five minutes?” Cody shook his head, “not important at the moment. I think he might’ve been trying to distract me as well, so I’d wager that he’s pretty stressed out, and this seems like a decent chance for him to blow off some steam. Also,” Cody glanced at Jason with a playful look in his eyes, “Gizmo definitely started it.”  

“It hardly matters who-” before Jason could finish his retort, Cody had cupped his hands around his mouth, and was shouting.  

“Blitz, stop trying to look at him when he’s running around you! Just listen for his movements and zap him!” 

Blitz stopped moving, just about to get caught in another of Gizmo’s spin around tricks. The mouse pokémon processed Cody’s words, and stopped moving. He focused on his hearing for a moment, his ears twitched, and he fired off a bolt of lightning.  

Gizmo gritted his teeth and stumbled. He'd experienced a few different shocks during the fight, and it was starting to take its toll on him. On the other hand, he was starting to get used to the debilitating effects of being electrocuted. 

Gizmo was about to blindly jump back into the fight, when his trainer decided to speak up. 

“Gizmo, pikachu typically have weak physical defence! Hit him with your strongest normal type attack!” 

Gizmo blinked, in that moment he thought to himself about his available roster, before making a choice. 

The evolution pokémon rushed forward, building up momentum as he shifted his head into the best position for smashing one’s head into something and negating most of the damage to the user. 

_‘He knows headbutt?’_ Blitz thought disbelievingly,  _‘how am I supposed to deal with that?’_  

As if reading his mind, Cody spoke up again, “punch him!” 

Blitz blinked incredulously. He would’ve turned to stare at the boy if it weren’t for the beige blur rushing towards him. Despite Blitz’s disbelief at the insanity of the instruction that had been given to him, it had actually given him an idea... 

_“This is so stupid!”_ Blitz yelled, as he pulled his paw back and it became engulfed in electricity, until his arm physically resembled a bolt of lightning. 

Blitz waited until Gizmo was a hair’s breath away, before shoving his fist forward so fast that it created a thunderous bang as it made contact with Gizmo’s forehead. 

Both pokémon were still for a moment. Gizo took a step back from Blitz, and Blitz let his paw drop back to his side. The two glared at each other for a moment, the intensity in their eyes was like a burning fire, continuously building into an inferno. 

That intensity disappeared in an instant when the two pokémon’s masks of intimidation fell away. 

Gizmo lost balance on his legs, he had to shake his head frantically as a terrible headache formed, and meanwhile Blitz had been flexing his paw, as the combination of a high voltage and the recoil from the impact had caused it to become numb. 

_“Okay,”_ Gizmo spoke up while massaging his forehead in small circles, _“you definitely won that.”_  

_“Yeah, sorry about that,”_ Blitz gestured towards the quadruped’s head,  _“that’s got to suck. But hey, maybe I knocked some sense into you.”_  

Despite the pain, Gizmo rolled his eyes,  _“it feels like my brain’s pulsing, and I still don’t get what’s so bad  about the pokéballs.”_  

Blitz let out a sigh,  _“I’m going to hazard a guess and say you’ve never met a pokémon that was caught by a standard ball, or if you have it was very brief. I bet you’ll figure it out after a week of traveling.”_  

_“We’ll see...”_ Gizmo winced, closing his eyes tight as his headache got even worse. 

Before Blitz could respond to Gizmo’s fluctuating headache, Jason rushed over, the worry was clear on his face. He looked the evolution pokémon over for any signs of long-term damage. 

Cody followed behind, at a slower pace. He wasn’t as worried about the pokémon as Jason was, but Blitz did notice the boy giving him the occasional concerned look. 

Blitz rolled his eyes,  _“honestly, you two are acting like pokémon don’t get into fights all the time.”_  

Cody looked up in thought as he considered that, it was a fair point he had to admit. Jason stopped fretting about his pokémon partner as well, once that detail had sunk in. 

Gizmo shook his head, something that had caused him no small amount of pain given the current situation,  _“I mean, seriously, aren’t you the one that studied to be a pokémon trainer?”_  

Jason gave the beige pokémon a withering look, “why shouldn’t I be worried? You were just in an unorganised battle. You weren’t prepared, I definitely wasn’t. If it had been any other pokémon, you could’ve been seriously injured.” 

Gizmo blinked at his trainer, and proceeded to look at the ground, feeling guilty. 

Jason, still needing to vent his frustration, turned his attention to Blitz, “and you. Pikachu don’t learn Thunder Punch naturally. Explain how you know it.” 

Blitz blinked, confused by the question. A moment later he was smirking. 

_“It’s not actually a difficult concept to grasp, you punch something.... with electricity.”_ Blitz smirked, as small sparks danced around his body,  _“Sort of what electric types do, you know?”_  

Cody giggled, drawing the attention of Jason and the pokémon, “I assume I’ll get a similar answer if I point out that eevee can’t naturally learn headbutt either?” 

The beige coloured pokémon  looked at him with surprise in his eyes,  _“really? But it’s just smashing your head into something...”_  

There was a moment of silence in the group before Cody and Blitz stated laughing uncontrollably. Gizmo was confused by the display, while Jason was quite annoyed by it. 

“Ah, you guys crack me up. No harm done, yeah?” Cody waited for Jason to sigh and nod his head, “good, so what are you going to be doing now?” 

Before Jason spoke, he gently lifted Gizmo from the ground and headed towards his front door, “I’m going to give Gizmo a general check-up, and then we’ll be heading off.” 

Cody nodded, “and change out of those pyjamas, right?” 

Jason stopped before stepping through the door, and glanced back at the other boy with a smile on his face, “good luck, Cody.” 

He closed the door after that. 

With that Cody and Blitz were alone, and their façades of good humour fell away. 

“You okay?” Cody asked, no longer hiding his concern. 

Blitz stared up at the boy. The electric mouse had been in the boy’s company for most of the day, and he seemed to clash with Blitz’s idea of what a trainer was.  

Upon reflection, his previous trainer had been bearable, if wholly ignorant of the fact that he didn’t want to do the things she told him to do, and was unable to disobey a command. Then there were trainers like those two other red-heads that had ambushed him. They were Blitz’s example of the worst sort of trainer, those who were only motivated by self-interest and saw pokémon as just another stepping stone. 

_“Yeah, I’m fine.”_ Blitz looked Cody in the eyes,  _“I’m ready to be captured now.”_  

“What?” Cody was surprised. 

Blitz shrugged,  _“I figure if I start acting weirdly, you’d break the ball. Now, I hate clichés, but hurry up and do it, before I change my mind.”_  

Not having to be told twice, Cody grabbed one of the pokéballs that Professor Oak had assured him didn’t have any mental effects on pokémon. 

Cody threw the empty black and white pokéball at Blitz, the ball opened in the air. Blitz was transformed into a red energy, before being sucked into the pokéball. 

The ball landed on the ground, rocking back and forth erratically, which caused Cody some concern, as a successful capture was supposed to involve three periodic shakes. 

After five seconds of waiting, there was a click that confirmed the capture, followed by the pokéball changing colour. The bottom half of the ball was a light orange, and the top half was a pale yellow. 

Cody stared at the ball in shock, which only increased when the ball snapped open on its own, revealing Blitz, who seemed to be dazed by the experience. 

“Are you okay? You don't feel…brain washy, do you?” 

Blitz blinked,  _“brain washy? Really?”_  

“Well excuse me for being worried,” Cody huffed, arms crossed. 

Blitz rolled his eyes,  _“I feel fine.”_  

“So not desperately in love with me?”  

_“Nope.”_ Blitz shook his head. 

Cody nodded, “Okay, how about this. I order you to jump.” 

Blitz looked a little uncomfortable, but he didn’t jump. He didn’t seem like he was trying to resist anything, either. Slowly, both Cody and Blitz smiled, it was confirmed. The pokéballs did as Professor Oak described.  

The electric mouse, calming down from the experiment, looked at the pokéball that he was now connected to, still on the ground, with a mixed expression. He picked it up, and threw it at Cody, who managed to catch it despite his surprise. 

_“I don't like looking at that thing, so keep it away from me,”_  as he spoke he climbed up onto Cody's shoulder,  _“but, make sure to keep it somewhere safe. Out of sight and safe, you understand?”_  

Cody nodded, “don't worry, I'll take good care of it.” 

_“Great. What's the plan now?”_  

Cody looked up in thought, his expression falling, “we've got to go get my trainer license.” 

Blitz didn't understand why that would cause the boy to become so downtrodden, but as Cody started walking back towards his house, Blitz figured he would find out. 


	4. Conflict At Home

Cody stood in front of his house, Blitz was perched on his shoulder. The setting sun overhead cast the sky in vibrant hues of orange; the only sounds to be heard was that of the rushing wind and the dull hum of a small country town. 

The boy had been standing outside the house for five minutes. His hesitation was caused by fear, because he knew that the conversation he would have with parents as a result of his choice to leave home and becoming a trainer couldn’t be pleasant. 

Upon the boy’s shoulder, Blitz was becoming irritated. The electric mouse had found himself in a strange situation. On the one hand, standing around in front of a house was weird, and more importantly to Blitz, incredibly boring. On the other hand, Blitz knew that something was troubling Cody despite the boy’s attempts to maintain a calm demeanour, and that concerned the pokémon. It wasn’t difficult for Blitz to piece that information together. In comparison to most pokémon, who used a variety of smells, sounds, and body language to express emotions to others, the way humans expressed themselves was about as subtle as a marching band. 

Eventually, Blitz’s impatience won out,  _“what’s the hold up? We gonna go in, or what?”_  

Cody jumped involuntarily, Blitz’s voice had pulled him away from his thoughts. 

“Hmm, sorry about that. I was just... thinking,” Cody shrugged the shoulder that Blitz wasn’t resting on, “out of curiosity, how good is your hearing?” 

Blitz turned his head at the non-sequitur,  _“a lot better than yours, why?”_  

“Can you hear anything from inside the house?” the boy’s voice had a slight tremble to it. 

Blitz frowned at the question, weary of his trainer’s request. Regardless, the electric mouse took a breath, closed his eyes, and focused on all the sounds around him. He worked his way through all the sounds, filtering them out as he went. There was rushing wind, which caused the old wooden houses around them to creak. Split between the trees and the sky was a flock of seven pidgeys chirping to one another about a planned migration. Humans around the town: walking, chatting, playing, working, sleeping, telling, laughing, screaming... 

Blitz mentally declared all of these things to be meaningless noise, and he stopped noticing them. 

Finally, Blitz was able to think clearly. He focused on the house in front of them, ignoring the miscellaneous sounds that houses were known to make, searching for anything of note to report back to Cody. At first, he didn’t hear anything of note. It seemed like the house was empty, and he was just about to relay this to Cody, when he heard a new sound. 

The sound was very soft, but Blitz could tell it was a person, the small pokémon  tilted his head in thought, whoever it was sounded like they were mumbling. Blitz waited for half a minute, but there wasn’t a response to this mumble that would suggest that there was more than one person inside the house. 

 _“There’s somebody in there, only one though. Whoever it is seems to be talking to themselves,”_ Blitz glanced at Cody,  _“so, you live here, right? Care to explain what’s going on?”_  

The boy blinked his eyes, processed the information, and let out a sombre chuckle. 

“Well, Dad’s at work,” Cody looked Blitz in the eyes, “and my parents had a fight earlier. Which means the most likely outcome is that Mum hit the Jack Daniel’s.  _Hard._ Which is kind of lucky for us, really.” 

Blitz tilted his head in confusion,  _“who’s Jack?”_  

“Eh, you’ll understand in a moment,” the boy paused to unlock the front, “we’ve gotta be in and out of here before Dad gets back from work.” 

* * *

 

The house’s layout wasn’t anything complex, which was a common theme of Pallet Town architecture. The first thing people saw once walking through the front door was a staircase that led to the first floor. The first floor was an ‘L’ shaped hallway, which had four doors. These doors led to the bathroom, a storage closet, Cody’s room, and Cody’s parents’ room. 

The ground floor, beyond the stairs, was a loose blending of a living room, kitchen, and dining room, all barely separated by changes in the carpet, and walls with giant archways. 

The front door opened into the area of the ground floor that could best be referred to as the living room, and visible from that spot was the couch, which Cody’s mother was currently splayed across. She would occasionally mumble incoherent words to herself, while giving a random shudder. She was unresponsive to the outside world. The sight made Cody depressed, but he chose to find a silver-lining, in that there was little chance that she would get in his way.  

Blitz sniffed at the air, which caused the small pokémon to cough and his eyes to water. The electric mouse took a deep breath, which did not help, before speaking in a whisper,  _“I think I get what you meant now. Okay, I really don’t want to stay here longer than necessary, so let’s go grab your trainer license and get out of here.”_  

The boy tensed, and let out a nervous chuckle, “funny thing that... I have no idea where it is.” 

 _“What?”_ Blitz whispered harshly, with an incredulous expression on his face,  _“how do you misplace something like that?”_   

“Very easily!” Cody let out a calming sigh, “the trainer classification test was a month-long school assignment, which meant we were overly prepared for what is already considered a simple test. Practically everyone passes that thing and gets a license, but when you don’t or can’t make use of it, what’s the point of keeping track of it?” 

 _“This, Cody. This is the point. This exact situation,”_ the electric mouse shook his head,  _“do you have_ any  _idea where it is?”_  

Cody shook his head. Blitz rolled his eyes in response, which went unseen by Cody. The electric type jumped from the boy’s shoulder, landing quietly on all fours. 

 _“We have basically zero chance of finding this thing, so let’s split up.”_  

“Makes sense, I guess,” Cody started walking towards the stairs, “you search down here, I’ll look up stairs.” 

 _“Oh, no you don’t!”_ Blitz jumped in annoyance,  _“it_ reeks _down here, I’m going upstairs!”_  

Cody stopped on the stairs, looking back at Blitz with a bemused expression, “does it?” 

 _“Yes!”_  

“Huh, best get searching then,” Cody shrugged, “I’m going upstairs because I need to pack some supplies while I search. You have to search down here, since you wouldn’t know what supplies I’d need.” 

It was clear by Blitz’s face that he wanted to argue about the situation, but in the interest of leaving the house quicker he put aside his anger and nodded. 

“I’m glad you see my point,” Cody continued walking up the stairs. 

Blitz watched him, until he turned a corner at the top step and vanished from the pokémon's sight. The electric mouse sighed, before entering the living room proper. 

* * *

 

The boy racked his mind trying to recall where he had placed his trainer license. The license was a thin piece of plastic, and it had been delivered to his house around a month after the qualification test. He could remember holding it in his hands, playing around with it for a few days. 

Then it had disappeared one day. If he had to guess, it probably got misplaced one day while the house was being cleaned. 

 _‘So, it’s probably been shoved into some random drawer...’_ Cody let out a sigh as he stepped into his bedroom. 

His bedroom was the most likely place for the license to be, since he had kept it close to him during that short period after it had just arrived. 

Cody looked around at his room, in the same messy state as when he left it. He had no idea where to begin, so he went over to his closet in search of a backpack. If he was going to turn his room upside down, and make the mess worse than it already was, he might as well prepare a travelling bag. 

After finding a dust covered backpack, Cody began his search by clearing the floor: shirts, trousers, underwear, socks, and jackets littered the floor, and the license could be hidden underneath any one of them. He moved most of the clothing into one corner of the room, while picking out three t-shirts, two light tracksuit bottoms, and one pair of shorts for his backpack. 

The floor was mostly clear now, and Cody was mildly disheartened to find that the license was nowhere to be seen. He sighed, before getting back to searching. 

He set his sights on his shelves. He couldn’t see the license out in the open, so maybe he had placed it behind or below something. One by one he picked up every book on the shelf, checked the space where he had removed it from, and flicked through the book in question. 

He wouldn’t put it past himself to use something as important as a trainer license as a bookmark. 

Cody still didn’t find the license. 

He stepped into the centre of the room, and looked around for other spots that the license could be. While looking around, his eyes fell onto the map of the Kanto and Johto regions. A small smile found its way onto his face despite the situation. He went over to the map, picked it up and carefully folded it. He placed it gently into a separate compartment on his backpack so it wouldn’t get damaged. 

Cody took a deep breath and continued his search: he pulled out the mattress and checked under the bed, no result; he pulled the drawers out of the desk, emptied their contents onto the floor and rapidly scanned through the items, yet there was no license; in a last-ditch effort, he rummaged through the pockets of every coat, trouser, jacket, pair of shorts, and hoodie in the hopes of finding his license, still with no license in sight. 

The boy could feel a slight nervous twitch in his left eye. Truth be told, he found it unsettling. He had turned the room upside down in every way that he could imagine to no avail. 

Cody sighed, “I hope Blitz had better luck.” 

His efforts in the bedroom proving fruitless, Cody went to check the bathroom next. He honestly didn’t expect to find the license in this room. But, knowing that money wasn’t going to be the easiest thing to come by while travelling, he decided to grab some toiletries so he wouldn’t immediately have to worry about hygiene. 

While gathering these supplies in the bathroom, Cody’s mind started to wander. What was he supposed to do if they couldn’t find his license? Without it he would be breaking the law; all it would take to ruin his plans would be for a Nurse Joy or Officer Jenny to become aware of this fact. 

Never mind the issue of feeding himself and a growing team of pokémon, or where he was going to consistently find a bed when a Pokémon Centre wasn’t available. 

“I’ll ask Jason about it the next time I run into him,” Cody mused. 

There was a loud bang from down stairs. The sound pulled Cody from his thoughts, and he entered a panic. He could only think of one reason for the sudden sound, and it meant trouble if he was right. 

He tried to calm himself by taking long breaths, but this action proved useless when a thunderous roar sounded through the house. 

Cody felt an unsuppressible tremble run through his body, and then the boy found himself with a question. 

“Why’s he shouting?” He pondered between breaths, “it’s not like Mum getting drunk is anything new, so why...” Cody trailed off as realisation struck him. 

“He found Blitz!” the boy was filled with panic. 

* * *

 

Blitz was out of his element. 

He looked around the vaguely defined living room, and he was whelmed in a cornucopia of different sensations; the carpet was rough and scratchy, the strong scent of alcohol hung in the air overpowering all other scents, the television had at some point started to scream, and then there was the woman on the couch. 

Cody’s mother was splayed across the couch, half conscious. She stank of alcohol, her limbs would move around haphazardly with no rhyme or reason, while she continued to spout incomprehensible thought aloud to herself. 

Take all together, these things were triggering Blitz’s ‘fight or flight’ response and it was putting him on edge. 

Blitz stopped. He took a deep breath, not the best idea given the situation, and scanned the room again. In principle, hiding things was a universal concept. 

For a pokémon it might involve burying something underground, keeping it out of sight, so that only that pokémon would know for certain that there was something to find. For a human the same applied, keeping things out of sight. 

 _“Or,”_  Blitz spoke to himself,  _“keeping it insight, it depends on the situation.”_  

Blitz shook his head, focusing back on both the task at hand as well as the room, taking in the finer details, whereas he had been distracted previously. The living room had a faux dark oak cabinet in the right corner, and a sideboard in a similar style against the opposite wall. 

Between the two there were plenty of places to hide something as small as a trainer license. 

Blitz went to the sideboard, it was wider than the cabinet and had more doors, so it made the most sense to Blitz to search there first. 

The electric type had to jump to open the first drawer. He landed on the ground and jumped again, landing on top of the sideboard to actually look into the container. After a quick glance it seemed that the draw only contained stacks of differently sized paper, old coins, and some random bits and pieces. 

Blitz rifled through the drawer, though as he’d been expecting, the trainer license was nowhere to be found. 

Blitz sighed loudly, rubbing his hands into his cheek pouches in exasperation. 

 _“What have I gotten myself into?”_ Blitz mumbled to himself. He knew that it was early in the search, but there were still a dozen other draws to check, one couch and two chairs to check underneath and down the sides of, and that was just in the living room alone. 

The mouse pokémon’s ears twitched at a sound, it was the subtle creek of springs changing pressure. Something was moving position on the couch. 

Blitz looked up from the drawer, and his eyes met those of the woman, Cody’s mother, for a moment. Her eyes looked at him with a glassy expression for a moment as she swayed. But when she properly focused on him, her face morphed into an enraged scowl. 

“What are you doing here?” she hissed at Blitz, she had kept her voice low enough to avoid alerting anyone upstairs or outside the house, but had still somehow managed to maintain a menacing edge. 

Blitz, already unnerved by being in an unknown location, didn’t take kindly to her tone. 

 _“I’m trying to find your son’s trainer license!”_ Blitz yelled, taking out his aggravation on the woman,  _“and it’s not going well, so do you mind?”_  

There was silence in the room, Cody’s mother just sat there. Her angry expression softened until she was merely staring at him with a blank expression. Blitz raised a brow at her lack of reaction, before smacking his hand to his forehead as realisation struck. 

 _“You can’t understand me, can you?”_ Blitz sighed agitatedly,  _“gosh, I’m stupid...”_  

“Hey, come on...” she trailed off, rocking her head in an attempt to clear her thoughts, “ya don’t gotta feel stupid, or nothing.” 

Blitz stared at the drunken woman wide eyed, quite confused. 

 _“Come again?”_  

“I mean, how were you...” she trailed off, losing her balance on the couch and falling. If she was hurt by this, she didn’t show it. Instead she began laughing erratically, which was doing nothing to help Blitz’s mood. 

“Ah...” she sighed before shaking her head again, “sorry. How were you supposed to know that I couldn’t understand you?” 

At this point Blitz was completely done,  _“but you just did!”_  

She raised an eyebrow at this, turning her head to the side in confusion, “I can’t understand you. You're a pokémon, and I, well, I’m not. I don’t think.” 

Blitz sighed in exasperation,  _“we’re having a conversation right now!”_  

The woman blinked, as if the reality of the situation just occurred to her. She seemed frightened by the realisation, but it didn’t last long before disappearing into a general depressed state. 

“I suppose we are, aren’t we?” she trailed off at that point, only to stare into Blitz’s eyes a moment later, a suspicious look appearing in her eyes. 

“Why, um, why would you be looking,” she stopped for a moment while she shook her head to refocus, “for, Cody’s trainer license?” 

Blitz pinched the bridge of his nose,  _“if a human doesn’t have a trainer license while travelling with a pokémon, those pokémon will be_ confiscated _,”_ Blitz said that last word with contempt. 

Cody's Mother rocked her head in a counter-clockwise circle, trying to process the pokémon’s words. 

“So... does that mean you’re travelling with my little Coda?” she said sombrely, which Blitz noticed. Since she got up he’d been treating her like an unknown variable, never exactly sure what her mood was or what would set her off. 

Although Blitz could read her emotions as well as he could most people, in that situation he felt like he was missing some context. 

Regardless, he figured that not responding was doing him more harm than good in that instance. 

 _“Only as long as I want to, but yes,”_ Blitz shrugged his shoulders. 

Cody’s mother leaned back into the couch, her head rolled back and looked up at the ceiling. A moment later, she spoke up. 

“Do you see that handbag? Fetch it for us, will ya?” she vaguely gestured in the direction of the stairs. Blitz looked past the couch at the stairs, and saw that a violet handbag was hanging from the bannister. 

The electric mouse sighed before jumping down from his position on the sideboard. He figured that he had already wasted enough time talking to this woman, so he might as do what she asked, in the hopes that she’d leave him in peace. 

He ran over to the bannister, jumped to knock the bag from its resting place, and then proceeded to drag it across the room to the couch, Blitz then leaped onto the couch next to the drunk woman. 

She didn’t respond to his presence. 

Blitz rolled his eyes,  _“I got your bag.”_  

She blinked, before turning Blitz with a smile on her face, “thank you.” 

She gently took the bag from the electric mouse and then, with the speed of familiarity and the imprecision of drunkenness, she searched the bag. A mere moment later she had pulled out Cody’s trainer card. 

Blitz looked at the offending item, eye twitching in disbelief. 

 _“You had it?”_ the small pokémon yelled,  _“all this time, and you had it! Why?”_  

Cody’s mother slowly leaned back to stare at the ceiling, “why? Because... I care. What else was I supposed to do?” 

Blitz turned his head to the side in confusion, but before he could ask her to clarify, there was a bang behind them. 

“What are you doing!” Cody’s Father yelled. 

* * *

 

The atmosphere in the living room was intense, to say the least. The man, Cody’s Father, had entered the house unnoticed. And when he saw Blitz and Cody’s Mother talking, he became furious. 

The man’s face was flushed with blood, his brow was scrunched up into tight lines, and the look in his eyes was absolutely murderous. 

And he was glaring right at Blitz. 

Blitz’s fight or flight response, pushed far beyond its natural limit, broke and Blitz discharged a weak bolt of lightning at the man’s head on instinct. Blitz’s attack missed, and Blitz ended up jumping back from his spot on the couch to the farthest wall from the visible threat. 

The man took offense to that. 

“You little-” Cody’s Father was interrupted, when Cody entered the room from the stairs, a panicked expression on his face. 

The boy quickly searched the room, locating the hyperventilating mouse pokémon pressed against the wall. 

Cody looked the trembling pokémon over, looking for any signs of injury. When he found none, he let out a sigh of relief. 

“You had me worried there, for a moment...” the boy mumbled to himself, before turning his glance towards his father with a harsh look in his eyes, “if you’ve done anything to Blitz, I swear to god...” 

The man didn’t acknowledge his son’s threats, rather he focused all of his aggression towards the boy. 

“How dare you...” his father’s voice was a low rumble, slowly building, “you know the rules! No pokémon! I will not tolerate any freakiness in this house!” he was screaming by the end of his rant, his voice caused Cody to tremble. 

Cody felt his nerve crumble. He could feel himself twitching nervously under his father’s glare. 

Cody practically jumped out of his skin when he felt something climbing his body. He nervously cast his gaze at the small mouse pokémon on his shoulder, a move that would certainly earn his father’s wrath. 

In his paws, Blitz was holding a thin piece of plastic that Cody recognised to be his trainer license,  _“here’s the thing. Can we leave now? Please?”_ Blitz’s voice had taken on a nervous edge, which Cody picked up on as he took the trainer license for himself. 

His card in hand, Cody looked at his father again. And with a bravery that he didn’t actually feel, he shrugged. 

“I figured that would be your response. That’s why I’m heading out,” that seemed to break his father’s rage for a moment. If Cody had been paying attention, he might have noticed his mother looking down with a sad look in her eyes. 

Seeing a chance, Cody calmly started towards the door. 

His father recovered, slamming his hand against the front door, with a thunderous bang. 

“You’re not going anywhere! Do you think you can just take off whenever you feel like? No son of mine is going to  **waste their time travelling with pokémon!** ” 

Cody scowled at his father, “maybe I wouldn’t want to leave so badly if you weren’t such an arse!” 

The next two seconds seemed to pass by at a snail’s pace for Cody. His father, finally pushed beyond his boiling point, lunged at his son. In a panic, Cody raised his arms above his head in an attempt to protect himself. But the hit never came. 

With a flash of light and a crackle of electricity, Cody’s father was face down on the ground. 

Cody stared at the scene for a moment, his father’s body has electricity dancing off of it. He glanced at Blitz and saw that the pokémon’s cheek pouches were sparking. Cody didn’t know how to process the situation. He could feel his heart beating so fast in his chest that he felt like he might faint. 

It was Blitz that pulled him back to the moment at hand,  _“what are you waiting for? Run for it!”_  

Cody nodded briefly, quickly opening the front door to a purple and orange sky. Apparently finding a trainer license had taken much longer than Cody had expected it to. 

Before stepping outside the house, Cody turned back to look at his parents. His loudly crying mother, who was still under the influence of alcohol. His father, currently unable to move, was twitching erratically and grumbling angrily to himself. 

The boy looked at the front door frame, sort of like the boundary line between different sections of his life. 

“Well, if it’s my last change...” Cody murmured, turning back to look at both parents. He took a calming breath, before letting out his pent-up stress, “you know, I’ve wanted to say this for a very long time.  But what this is,” he gestured vaguely at the house and both his parents, “it needs to stop. Sort out whatever problems you both have, because none of this is healthy.” 

There was a moment of silence in the room. 

“Well,” Cody sighed, “see ya, I guess.” 

Fuelled by panic, Cody sprinted out of the house. 

* * *

Cody moved through Pallet Town and towards Route 1 unnoticed, Blitz riding his shoulder securely. Neither had exactly gotten over the events that transpired in Cody’s house, so they were both silent. The only words that had been exchanged between the two had been to confirm their destination. 

“We’re heading to Viridian City, again,” Cody sighed, having become quite annoyed with the town in his limited time there, “we’ll go to the Pokémon Centre and get a room.” 

Both trainer and Pokémon winched at the idea, both recalling the resident Nurse Joy’s particular temperament. 

 _“And tomorrow?”_ Blitz asked quietly,  _“what exactly is your goal? Why are we even doing this?”_  

The boy pondered that question while stepping past the boundary line between Pallet Town and Route 1, with the lights of Viridian City visible in the distance against the night sky. Cody smiled at the sight, as his answer came to him. 

“I want to travel. It’s nothing special,” the boy shrugged his non-occupied shoulder, “see the sights, meet interesting people and pokémon... possibly have some big spiritual adventure where I learn more about myself and the world,” Cody grinned at Blitz, “ya know?” 

Blitz stared at Cody for a moment, processing the boy’s words. Blitz shook his head and let out an exasperated sigh,  _“you watch a lot of anime, don’t you?”_  

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Cody asked in mock offence. 

The duo continued on in this manner, exchanging remark as they journeyed towards Viridian City in search of a warm place to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and criticism are appreciated.


	5. First Steps into Viridian Forest

_“You_ sure  _you don’t want to see more of the sights? I bet there’s_ plenty  _to do around here!”_ Blitz’s voice was laced with faux excitement as he spoke from atop Cody’s head; the electric mouse was gesturing energetically towards the small city called Viridian. 

Blitz’s antics had gathered the attention of the locals. Some of them stopped and stared, while others seemed to recognise Cody from the previous day and returned to their own activities. Cody didn't notice their looks, he simply kept walking towards the city’s edge with an annoyed look in his eyes. 

“Everyone in this town annoys me,” Cody shrugged. 

_“I think you’re too impatient with people,”_ Blitz’s voice took on a sing-song quality,  _“I think you need to learn how to give people a chance.”_  

“You’re one to talk,” Cody rolled his eyes, “you find humour in my misery. You tell me which is worse.” 

Blitz was about to respond but stopped when he smelled something vaguely familiar. The smell itself wasn’t threatening, nor was it connected to something that Blitz would find threatening. This made the electric mouse puzzled, so he looked around the general area trying to find the cause of the smell. 

When Blitz spotted the person connected to the familiar smell he burst out laughing. Cody was confused by the pikachu’s actions for all of two seconds before noticing out the corner of his eyes the, at the time, drunk old man who had blocked the path to Route 2 the previous day. Cody glared at the old man, but the man didn’t seem bothered by it. 

“You there, you’re that kid who was trying to pass through here yesterday, right?” 

“Yeah, and you're that drunk jerk who claimed the only safe path to Route 2 as your private property and then threatened to call the police on me,” the boy could feel his left eye twitching, unable to supress it, “now that that's cleared up, why are you  _wasting_  my time?” 

Blitz chuckled,  _“This right here? This is what I'm talking about!”_  

Before Cody could turn his head to glare at the lightning colour pokémon, the old man let out a sigh. 

“Look, I'm sorry about that,” the man's voice sounded tired, "I just wanted to do something for you, as an apology." 

 Cody crossed his arms, "oh yeah? What would that be?" 

"You're a new trainer, right? I figured someone should explain to you how capturing pokémon works." 

Cody's anger was momentarily abandoned and replaced with confusion, "I'm sorry, what?" 

The older man gave a good-natured chuckle, "Come now, there's nothing wrong with accepting some help when learning something new, is there?" 

“Learning something  _new_?” The boy’s rage burst, “you think that  _I don’t know how to throw a ball_?” 

It was at that this point that Blitz could no longer handle the situation. The electric mouse’s only option was to succumb to intense laughter. 

The old man’s eyes widened in shock, “that’s not what I meant-” 

“Wanna know how you can pay me back?” Cody turned back towards Route 2, “stop stalling me!” 

With that, Cody started walking again towards the forest in the distance. There was a furious look to the boy’s eyes, this look was hidden from the old man because Cody was turned away from him. Blitz, however, could see the look, the fury. 

Blitz found that fury to be troublesome. 

* * *

 

Cody’s anger, which up until that point had been burning intensely, cooled as they approached the boundary line between Viridian City and Route 2. 

Cody took a pause for a moment; looking around the area where the City and the Route blended. There were small groups of pokémon scurrying in between the closely bound together trees. The tiny pokémon moved quickly and were covered by the shade of the trees. This made it difficult for the boy to make out their finer details, only able to see blurred shapes and colours. 

The turquoise blurs were almost definitely female nidoran. The purple blurs following behind them were probably the male variant. 

Cody pondered the nidoran. They were some of the few pokémon in the known world to have such a noticeable dimorphism. Furthermore, that dimorphism extended to nidoran’s evolutions, to the point where they were considered separate species based on gender. 

_‘I wonder which I’d rather travel with...’_ Cody’s eyes widened as a somewhat troubling thought occurred to him. 

_“Are you okay, Coda? You’ve been standing around for a while now,”_ Blitz looked up from his position on Cody’s shoulder. The electric mouse had been studying Cody’s mannerisms in every free moment since agreeing to travel with him. Besides noticing a tendency to admire his surroundings, Blitz had determined that Cody easily became absorbed in his own thoughts. 

A habit, which Blitz had learned, could very easily cause problems for the duo. 

Cody glanced at Blitz with a suspicious look in his eyes, “did you call me ‘Coda’?” 

The electric mouse was confused for a moment, before nodding his head bashfully. 

“We’ll talk about that later...” Cody let out a long sigh, “it’s nothing, I’m just over thinking something.” 

Blitz nodded,  _“I get that, trust me, but I’ve got a concern,”_ the electric mouse gave the boy a nervous grin,  _“you aren’t gonna stop like this every time we’re about to walk between two places, are you?”_  

Cody, surprised that Blitz had noticed that habit, let out an embarrassed chuckle, “no idea. Probably won’t do it when we enter Viridian Forest,” The boy started walking, crossing the boundary line and entering Route 2, “I’m a little uncertain whether or not Viridian Forest counts as a separate place.” 

Blitz jumped down from the boy’s shoulders. He kept pace with the boy, while staring up at him incredulously,  _“you’re unsure if a_ forest  _counts as a separate place? From the_ Route _?”_  

Cody blinked at the question, and let out a chuckle, “sure, if you say it like  _that,_ it sounds ridiculous. It’s a... map thing. There is some disagreement between different maps on the subject.” 

_“You’re a strange one...”_ Blitz mumbled, as if his mind was suddenly far away. As the electric mouse stepped quietly through the grassy ground of Viridian Forest, his ears darted around in all directions, alert to every sound. 

The duo walked through the forest in silence.  

Cody was enchanted with the forest. It was the first time he’d ever been in one, and he wanted to appreciate everything there was to see. The most obvious aspect about the forest that distinguished it from a town, in Cody’s mind, was the pokémon. When the pokémon were in a town or a city, they would usually attempt to move without being noticed. In contrast, in the forest, the pokémon moved much more freely. 

The pokémon gave the duo some distance, as was to be expected, but they were so close that Cody could hear the pokémon talking. The voices surrounded them on all sides, varying in volume between highs and lows. The boy was whelmed in the noise yet he couldn’t make out any details from the conversations. 

The trees were so tightly bound together that they blocked out the sunlight. There were small randomly occurring pockets of light that broke through the treeline, creating a stunning image to Cody’s eyes. 

“Hey, you! Watch out!” Cody and Blitz turned in response to the shout; they saw a boy running towards them. He was holding a butterfly net in both hands, probably to keep it from snagging on something. The boy was a tad shorter than Cody, wearing shorts and a vest, along with the noticeable inclusion of a sun hat.  

He also seemed to be covered in silk strands. 

Blitz went on guard at the appearance of the unknown boy, sparks dancing across his cheeks. The boy running towards them didn’t stop, instead opting to run around them. 

“Hey, are you okay?” Cody yelled, “What’s wrong-AH!” From the dense trees of the forest came a silk shot, which hit Cody in the eyes. The shock caused the boy to fall to the ground. 

Blitz fired a warning bolt at the trees which singed the leaves slightly. This caused something to jump out from the dark patches of the forest. 

_“Stand and fight me!”_ an unknown voice declared. 

Cody, having calmed down from the initial shock, tore the silk from his eyes and saw the cause of the confusion. 

A small distance away from them was a giant lime green caterpillar. It had large white eyes, with forest green irises. Atop its head was a large antenna that split off into two points, which was the same dark green as its eyes. The bug pokémon had white rings going up the length of its body, and six feet. 

The look on its face was vicious, which along with its insectoid face, made for quite a creepy appearance. 

Cody could only blink at the situation, “today got weird  _fast._ ” 

_“I said fight me!”_ the bug pokémon fired more silk from its mouth towards Blitz. The electric mouse jumped out of the way, and fired off a small bolt back at the bug pokémon. 

The bolt landed, and the green bug winced. 

Blitz smirked at the bug,  _“shocking, isn’t it?”_  

The bug pokémon glared intently at Blitz,  _“finally...”_  

The bug moved with surprising speed, attempting to tackle Blitz. Blitz calmly walked forward, lightning crackling in his paws... 

* * *

 

Cody didn’t know how to feel about Blitz getting involved with another fight, but then again, he was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that a bug pokémon spat silk in his eyes. He just sat there on the ground; watching the fight unravel. 

“Hostile, isn’t he?” Cody glanced up, it was the boy who had tried to warn him. He was still covered in silk strands. 

Cody blinked, his eyes still irritated, before nodding, “is that normal for caterpie?” 

“Nope!” the boy hopped to the ground, “I would know, I’m a bit of a bug type enthusiast.” 

“I could tell,” Cody gestured towards the butterfly net, “but in that case, why are running away from the caterpie?” 

“Too feisty. Jumped at us out of nowhere,” the boy sighed, “my kakuna was  _really_ freaked out.” 

“That makes sense,” Cody nodded, “what’s your name, by the way?” 

The boy turned his head in confusion before letting out a light chuckle, “I didn’t introduce myself, did I? My name’s Zebulon.” 

Cody stared at the boy, Zebulon, with barely hidden disbelief. 

“Yeah, I know,” he smiled, “you can call me Zebby, though. What’s your name?” 

“Cody,” he gestured towards the two fighting pokémon, “the pikachu’s called Blitz.” 

“Oh, you’re one of those people that gives your pokémon nicknames?” Zebby seemed mildly intrigued by the idea. 

Cody shook his head, “no, or at least not in this case. He was called Blitz before I met him.” 

The bug catcher was very confused, “okay...but how would you know? His name, I mean.” 

Cody let out a chuckle, “it’s a long story, and you’ll probably think I’m crazy.” 

“Oh, go on,” Zebby grinned, “I’m interested, and honestly, I’m not going anywhere until I know that that caterpie isn’t going to hunt me down later.” 

Cody thought about it, and shrugged. 

“Eh, why not? I’ll try and focus on the important bits.”

* * *

 

The wild caterpie threw himself into Blitz, with more force than the electric mouse was expecting. Blitz caught his breath, before coating his fur with a static charge. The bug pokémon was only mildly harmed by this move, but he was stunned for a moment. 

Which gave Blitz the opportunity to lift the caterpie, spin around twice to build up momentum, and throw him with great force into the bushes. 

The electric mouse was expecting the caterpie to give up. Regardless, he stayed focused on the bushes that the caterpie had landed in, his ears were darting around trying to make out the caterpie’s movements. 

Blitz waited for a few seconds, before letting out a sigh. He turned and began walking back to Cody, and another human, which caused Blitz some confusion. 

Blitz’s ears twitched; there was a rustle of leaves behind him. He turned, and saw white string moving towards him rapidly. He tried to jump out of the wait, but silk managed to catch his legs. He tried to shake the silk off, but it was stuck tight and very restrictive. 

Blitz looked up, trying to find the silk culprit, and was taken aback.  

The caterpie was standing on the underside of a tree branch.  

Blitz blinked,  _“how are you doing that?”_  

The caterpie seemed confused by the question,  _“you know, I’m not sure. Probably just a bug thing.”_  

Blitz nodded thoughtfully,  _“I suppose that makes sense.”_  

_“Can we fight now?”_ the bug pouted at the electric mouse. 

Blitz’s eyes narrowed. The mouse pokémon was back on edge. He nodded his confirmation to the caterpie. 

_“Yay!”_ the bug type threw himself from the tree branch, landing on the ground with a thud. Then he rushed towards Blitz. 

The electric mouse could only sigh. 

Blitz rolled to avoid the charging bug, but he found that his movements were restricted because of the silk strands.  

The bug pokémon stopped, turned, and charged again. It was a near miss, but Blitz managed to dodge. 

Then the caterpie charged again... 

_“This is getting_ really  _tedious,”_ Blitz commented while jumping out of the way of the bug pokémon’s next charge. 

_“Well, excuse me! I’m sorry that the only thing I know how to do is spit silk and tackle things!”_ the bug rolled his eyes, before spitting more silk at Blitz, who wasn’t fast enough to dodge the fast string. 

Blitz was further hindered by the silk, so much so that the wild caterpie was able to throw his body into Blitz, knocking the electric pokémon off his feet and managing to wind him. 

As he got up from the ground, Blitz heard a hiss. He looked towards his opponent, and found a gash in the shape of a cross on the caterpie’s right side. If Blitz had to guess, that was side that the caterpie had hit him with. 

Blitz winced,  _“was that always there?”_  

The bug type looked at Blitz with a mixed expression, half confused and half pained,  _“I got snagged by some branches when you threw me into that bush,”_ the caterpie gestured with his head towards the bushes,  _“you talk a lot.”_  

_“Yeah, I know,”_ Blitz rolled his eyes,  _“so, why are you chasing humans? Looking for a trainer, or...?”_  

_"Huh. A trainer, I hadn’t considered that,”_ the bug type turned his head up in thought,  _“I’m looking for a fight, trying to get stronger so that I can evolve,”_ the caterpie gave Blitz a cheeky look,  _“than I'll find a_ lovely _mate.”_  

Blitz shook his head in disbelief,  _“you know you don’t have to be fully evolved to do that, right?”_  

The bug rolled his eyes,  _“obviously, but let’s look at the facts here. My options are limited, not a lot of bug-types wandering around here, ya know? And would you rather have a wimpy caterpie as your mate, or a majestic butterfree?”_  

Blitz nodded in understanding,  _“I suppose that makes sense.”_  

_“Great, glad we see eye to eye on this,”_ the bug seemed to have a happy look in his eye,  _“can we fight now?”_  

Blitz shrugged,  _“We can if you want, but I do have an alternate proposal.”_  

The caterpie turned his head,  _“oh?”_  

* * *

“Well,” Zebby blinked, “the last twenty-four hours sound like they’ve been challenging.” 

While telling the story, Cody had leaned back, so that he could lay flat against the ground and look up at the sky.  

Cody sighed, “yep. So, I guess I’m just traveling now. Don’t really have a plan or anything...” 

“Sometimes the best thing to do is pick a direction and start walking...” Zebby rapped his fingers on the ground nervously, “I’m sorry, you must get this a lot, but you can  _really_  talk to pokémon?” 

Cody nodded, “yep.” 

Zebby chuckled, “I’m not calling you a liar or anything, but I find that hard to believe.” 

Before Cody could respond to that, Blitz interrupted them,  _“hey Cody!”_  

Both boys turned their heads to look at Blitz, and they saw the electric mouse pokémon walking towards them calmly, followed by the caterpie that had been led to this situation. 

Zebby blinked at the scene, overcome with confusion at seeing the caterpie that had been chasing him calmly following the pikachu. 

Cody, meanwhile, only raised an eyebrow, “something up, Blitz?” 

Blitz nodded,  _“this is Izzy,”_ he gestured towards the caterpie,  _“he’s been_ challenging  _everyone that he sees because he wants to evolve into a butterfree, like, yesterday.”_  

“I guess that makes sense,” Cody turned to the caterpie, Izzy, “but do you really think attacking random people is the best way to go about this?” 

_“Holy crap, he was telling the truth,”_ Izzy was now as shocked as Zabby was confused,  _“well, I’ve never put much thought into it, but this pikachu here has suggested another option.”_  

Cody glanced at Blitz expectantly. 

The white furred pokémon let out a long-suffering sigh,  _“as much as it pains me to admit, we’re going to need to start adding to our team and doing some regular training if we want to be_ completely  _safe from all threats. So,”_ Blitz shrugged,  _“I figured I’d make an offer.”_  

Cody’s eyes widened in realisation as he turned to the bug type, “you want to join us?” 

_“I hear you’re going travelling_ all  _across the region, which means_ I  _can fight all sorts of strong pokémon!”_ Izzy jumped excitedly,  _“so, yeah, I’d like to do that! If you don’t mind...”_  

Cody looked up in thought, before reaching into his bag for an empty pokéball, “sure, I don’t see why not. But if you spit string in my eyes again there will  _serious_ consequences.” 

_“Fair enough!”_ Izzy jumped, pressing the button on the ball in Cody’s hand. Izzy was transformed into energy and pulled into the ball, which attempted to wobble in Cody’s hand. 

_“Oh yeah, he’s got a pretty deep wound on his side, so we’ve gotta do something about that,”_ Blitz said nonchalantly. 

Cody stared at Blitz for a moment. Blitz’s nonchalant exterior couldn’t hold, and the electric mouse gave a nervous shrug and chuckle. The boy pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. He had to calm down before he overthought the problem. 

“Okay,” Zebby stared at the duo in bemusement, “I believe you.” 

Cody turned his head to the other trainer, as a thought occurred to him,  _‘he probably knows a bit about treating bug pokémon injuries.’_  

“Ah, right,” Cody gave a thin smile, “that must’ve looked weird to you?” 

Zebby nodded with a goofy grin on his face, “but so cool!” 

Before Cody could respond, the pokéball in his hand clicked to confirm the connection. The ball transformed from the standard black and white to a dark green and lime combination to reflect its occupant. 

“I’m glad you think so,” Cody gestured to the two-toned green ball in his hand, “I’ve got a problem. Izzy’s hurt, and I  _cannot_ go back to that Pokémon Centre in Viridian again. Do you know anything about treating bug pokémon injuries?” 

Zebby was surprised by the sudden shift in conversation, “okay... I won’t ask. I do know some...general stuff? I’d have to see it to make any judgements.” 

Cody nodded, clicking the ball open and releasing Izzy back into the world. The caterpie seemed to be dazed after materialising, a response to the unusual experience of being turned into energy. That dazed expression quickly gave way to one of intense pain. 

Cody was surprised by this, as Izzy didn’t seem to be in that much pain when he was caught. 

“What’s happening?” Cody said aloud. 

“He was probably running on adrenaline earlier, masking the pain,” Zebby moved to get a better look at the caterpie’s injury, which caused the bug catcher to wince, “ouch, that’s surprisingly deep.” 

Cody moved to look too, but instantly had to look away. The wound was cross-shaped, and leaking a liquid that was coloured like a bad mix of yellow, green, and brown. 

“Is it serious?” 

_“No, not really.”_ Blitz interjected, with Izzy nodding his confirmation. 

Zebby answered, unaware of the pokémon’s feedback, “pokémon like caterpie heal these sorts of wounds surprisingly quickly. It has something to do with their cocoon evolution phase.” 

Cody was confused for many reasons, least of which was trying to keep track of two separate conversations, “what’s that got to do with anything?” 

Zebby turned to look at him, “you’ve seen a butterfree before, right? It's a big difference from a caterpie, and that kind of change requires some interesting biology. Simply put, caterpie eat a lot, and are capable of healing from a lot of stuff. The most you have to do is sterilise the wound with a potion if you want to be safe.” 

Cody absorbed that information and let out a sigh of relief, “well, that’s good. I don’t have a potion, though.” 

“Don’t worry about it, we’ll use one of mine,” Zebby reached into his bag as he spoke, “think of it as thanks for making the forest a little safer to travel in.” 

Cody giggled nervously, “sure, if you want... I don’t really feel like we’ve done anything, but sure...” 

Blitz sighed,  _“you don’t know when to stop talking, do you?"_  

Cody could only nod his agreement. 

Izzy looked up at Zebby, with a potion in hand, and could only sigh,  _‘this is gonna_ suck _...’_   

The caterpie’s thought was soon proven accurate, as the when the spray met the cut it felt like his side was on fire. The human had tried to say soothing words, but Izzy wasn’t particularly calmed by it.  

“You’re done,” Zebby said after a minute of spraying the potion. The recently caught bug type wasted no time moving away from him. 

Cody got up from the ground, quickly stretched and looked at Zebby, “well, it was nice meeting you, but I guess I’ve gotta work on getting Izzy to evolve.” 

The bug pokémon jumped excitably,  _“yes! I completely support this plan!”_   

Blitz sighed, suddenly regretting recent choices. 

Zebby got up with a grin, “then you’ll probably be in the forest for a while, right? Mind if I tag along?” 

“Um, sure...” Cody let out a nervous chuckle, “sounds fun.” 

Zebby let out a good-natured laugh, “you suck at talking to people, you know that?” 

“I have been informed,” Cody sighed, before setting off further into Viridian Forest. He was quickly followed by a grumpy pikachu, an excited caterpie, and a mesmerised bug catcher. 

Cody sighed once again,  _‘my life was so much simpler twenty-four hours ago.’_   


	6. Person Of Interest

“So, what do you think of this heat wave?” Zebby asked while glancing back at Cody, automatically navigating the uneven terrain of the forest floor as if it were second nature.

“I used to hate summer,” Cody tried to keep his tone even as he spoke to Zebby, but he couldn’t help the annoyance that slipped into his voice as he once again tripped on a prominent tree root, “but now that I’m spending my time outside, I find the heat sort of comforting.”

Blitz and Izzy were travelling a short distance from the two boys. In an effort to speed up Izzy’s evolution, the two had started challenging any pokémon that crossed their path.

Currently, the pikachu and caterpie were sparring with a pair of rattata. The rattata had spit up and were trying to keep Blitz and Izzy separated, but they weren’t having much success with that plan. Izzy had shot quite a bit of silk at the two rattata, which left their limbs in quite a tangle. With their movements greatly restricted, Blitz found it easy to get in close to the two rattata and deliver two quick thunder charged punches to their heads.

The battle was over shortly.

“Yeah, I get that. Being inside all day on a hot day  _sucks._ ” Zebby murmured absently, distracted by the pokémon’s efforts. He heard a yell from behind him and casually turned, catching the pokémon-whisperer, who had just tripped on a particularly well-hidden root, and settling the other boy. Zebby chuckled lightly. “Steady there. So, what sort of pokémon are you interested in? Any plans for your team?”

Cody spoke in a monotone as he focused on moving through the forest; walking precisely and deliberately to avoid a misstep. “It’s sort of a weird situation for me since I can understand them, ya know? I’d feel pretty bad about a pokémon travelling with me because of what they are if they didn’t like me. Does that make any sense?”

Zebby stared at the other boy with a thoughtful look in his eyes. “Huh, I guess I never looked at it like that. I only really want to travel with bug pokémon…”

“Don’t worry about it, I don’t really understand how I feel about it… I think as long as the pokémon  _wants_ to stay with you, it isn’t really a problem.” Cody tried to smile reassuringly, but it was tainted somewhat by an uncomfortable thought.  _‘Can a pokémon in a standard pokéball actually show its discomfort? How deep does the effect go?’_

* * *

While Cody had his crisis, Blitz and Izzy had encountered a beedrill. She looked at them with large orange eyes, with a certain curiosity.

Blitz, meanwhile, studied her to figure out how challenging she would be to fight. While she had fairly thin limbs, and beedrill weren’t particularly known for their physical strength, it didn’t stop the electric pokémon from glancing cautiously at her golden coloured lances.

_“Can I help you two?”_  She asked, sounding pleasant enough.

Izzy, showing absolutely no concern with talking with a fully evolved pokémon, answered her energetically.  _“Yes! I really want to evolve into a butterfree, so we’re challenging everyone. It’s really fun so far!”_

The beedrill softly chuckled at the caterpie’s enthusiasm. Blitz shuddered; it was a sound that he found truly unnerving.

The beedrill seemed to tilt her head up in thought, before turning her head back toward Izzy.  _“Well, if Imight ask, why the desire to evolve?”_

Izzy turned his head to the side, a slightly annoyed expression in his eye.  _“Because being a caterpie is awful!”_ The small bug pokémon shook his head.  _“I can’t really defend myself against most things, and who’d want a caterpie for a mate, anyways?”_ Izzy shook his head before looking back at the beedrill with an excited gleam in his eyes.  _“But, I hear that some butterfree have psychic abilities! And I’d be able to_ fly _!”_

The beedrill threw back her head and laughed good-naturedly.  _“Ah, not quite the best reasons, but I understand the desperation. Reminds me of when I was a weedle… Okay, I’ll fight you both!”_

Blitz and Izzy only had a moment to collect themselves before the beedrill moved. The electric mouse reacted quickly, getting some distance from the small bug pokémon to split the beedrill’s focus.

She decided to focus on Izzy, and corrected her flight with little issue. She was a swift and graceful flier, avoiding the caterpie’s silk shots and the pikachu’s electric strikes as she got closer to her target. She lunged towards the small bug, her lance-like appendage forward to piece the caterpie’s body. Panic struck Izzy like a lightning strike. He desperately rolled away at the last moment, barely avoiding being stabbed. Her lance pierced the ground quite deep, so she was going to have to spend a moment to release herself and recover.

Izzy took his chance; he fired three blobs of silk at the beedrill. She ripped her lance out of the dirt and twisted in the air. She managed to avoid two of the shots, but the last one caught her on the back between her wings. The silk threads went tight, restricting the movement of her wings. It wasn’t enough to stop her from flying, but it did force her to stay closer to the ground.

The beedrill laughed.  _“Good shot, but it’s going to take more than that!”_

She rushed Izzy again; her golden lances glowing a sinister purple. Before she could get into range to try to stab the small bug pokémon, she was zapped. The beedrill was stunned for a moment, and Izzy quickly got some distance from her. After recovering her senses, the beedrill turned and her eyes landed on Blitz. She stared at the electric pokémon, confusion clear in her eyes.

Blitz stared back at her with a bored expression.  _“Did you forgot that this was a two on one fight?”_

From the other side of the beedrill Izzy’s voice sounded, clearly irritated.  _“I forgot you were supposed to be helping me! Why haven’t you been?”_

_“It’d be no good if you couldn’t handle yourself, right?”_ Blitz shrugged.  _“Now, how about we finish this?”_

Izzy sighed.  _“Fine.”_

The fight didn’t last long after that. The beedrill was thrown off balance by the Blitz and Izzy’s alternating offense and support. One moment Izzy was firing silk shots at her back while Blitz threw a volley of thunder charged punches, and then the next Blitz was distracting her with low-level periodic shocks from a distance whilst Izzy was throwing his entire body weight into his attempts at tackling her.

Shortly thereafter the beedrill forfeited the match.

She sighed heavily.  _“That was some good teamwork, there.”_ She shifted her attention to Izzy, who was panting, quite worn out from the experience.  _“From what I’ve seen, I think you’re pretty close to your first evolution. One more good fight, I think.”_

Despite his exhaustion, this news seemed to completely reenergize Izzy.  _“Really?”_

_“Positive.”_ She chuckled once again, before turning to head deeper into the forest.  _“Farewell and good luck.”_

Blitz’s gaze didn’t leave the beedrill’s retreating form until he was absolutely sure that she had left them. Izzy was too excited to be cautious and was bouncing around in excitement.

Blitz rolled his eyes.  _“Come on, let’s find Cody.”_

Blitz started following the boy’s scent and Izzy followed without argument.

* * *

Zebby had been watching Blitz and Izzy’s fighting sessions with wild pokémon, and he couldn’t help but notice that they did it all without Cody’s involvement. In fact, a quick glance showed that the pokémon whisperer wasn’t even looking at the two pokémon’s battles, instead, he was staring into space with a troubled expression on his face. Zebby found the other boy quite strange.

“Aren’t you worried about your pokémon fighting by their selves?” Zebby gestured to the two exhausted pokémon.

Cody jumped involuntarily, his train of thought derailed. The boy shook his head. “Not really. It’s mostly friendly sparing, and I trust Blitz to know his limits and to account for Izzy’s… enthusiasm.” Cody looked away from Zebby nervously. “Is that weird?”

The bug catcher stopped walking. He glanced towards the sky, and it was clear that he was in deep thought. A look of discomfort passed across his face before the boy shrugged his shoulders and answered with. “It’s not that it’s  _weird_ ; it’s just I’ve never really considered that pokémon could take care of themselves, ya know?”

Cody tried to keep his expression neutral. He raised a brow as he tried to figure out the other boy’s true feelings.  _‘It wouldn’t do to start an argument with the guy...’_

“Really? But they do it all the time in the wild, don’t they?”

An array of emotions danced across the bug catcher’s face at that moment; confusion, embarrassment, and discomfort being the easiest to identify. The boy didn’t attempt to keep the conversation going. Cody wasn’t annoyed by this, as it was clear the other boy was in deep thought.

They simply continued to wall through the forest, both unsettled by the things they never thought to question.

Blitz spared a moment to watch the two boys get lost in their thoughts, before focusing once again on the environment around them. He was becoming increasingly agitated; he could hear the wind rushing through the trees and causing the branches to creak, the flutter of wings from above, and the grass crunching as other pokémon moved through the forest.

The only thing stopping him from giving into his panic was the knowledge that the most threatening pokémon to live in the forest weren’t the sort that would see a pikachu as viable prey.

_‘My company, on the other hand…’_ Blitz cast a tired look towards Izzy, who kept an excited ongoing monologue about evolving while frantically searching other something else to fight. His boundless enthusiasm hadn’t lowered at all despite the exhaustion he must have felt after the earlier training.

Blitz sighed and continued to tune the excitable caterpie out. He reassured himself with the knowledge that the sooner that they left Viridian Forest, the sooner he would be able to relax.

That comforting thought was cruelly ripped away from him when Izzy excitedly screamed,  _“Blitz, look! Someone else to fight!”_

The caterpie had already started jumping around and drawing attention to them, before firing a blob of silk at his target. Needless to say, Blitz started panicking.

_“Who?”_ The mouse pokémon frantically looked around until he found the victim of Izzy’s enthusiasm; an avian pokémon, covered in white and light brown feathers. At the top of its head, there was a crest of dark brown feathers. Around its eyes there were black markings, giving the impression of a domino mask.

Blitz couldn’t control the twitch to his eyes. Izzy had just fired a blob of silk, completely unprovoked, at a  **pidgeotto** _._ The silk shot had hit its mark, getting tangled in the crest of feathers atop the bird pokémon’s head. It did nothing to restrict the pidgeotto’s movement, but everything to infuriate the bird.

_“Oh, that’s just great!”_ Blitz let out a long-suffering sigh,  _“Cody! We’ve got a problem!”_

The pokémon whisperer was pulled from his melancholy thoughts just in time to see Blitz barely managing to jump out of the range of a strong gust of wind. Said gust of wind had been provided by a furious looking pidgeotto. Izzy wasn’t as fast as Blitz and was hit by the wind. He was lifted off the ground and thrown a short distance.

“Oh, crap,” Cody sighed. He didn’t spar another moment before running towards the fight that was breaking out, yelling instructions to Blitz and Izzy as he did. 

* * *

 

Hidden in the branches high above the pokémon whisperer, there was a pikachu observing with detached interest. Its fur was white with a hint of soft orange and its cheek pouches were rich scarlet. It watched the fight below, paying particular attention to Cody.

The pikachu was confused. It was only there because the boy was a curiosity. After being made aware of the boy’s existence, the pikachu found that it simply could not ignore the issue. Despite this, the boy didn’t seem remarkable enough to waste time on.

_‘There has got to be more interesting people in this region…’_ The pikachu thought to itself. Similar thoughts weren’t far behind. Before it could get lost in thoughts, it felt a mental pressure. The feeling only lasted for a moment and wasn’t particularly uncomfortable, but the pikachu still found itself experiencing a full body shiver.

The pikachu rolled its eyes and sighed.  _“Hello, Twist. Have you come to boss me around some more?”_

A pokémon with a fairy-like appearance appeared on the pikachu’s right side. The lower half of its body was dark blue, while the top half was various leafy green tones. Its eyes were large and were surrounded by black rings that invoked eyeliner. The eyes were a pristine white, except for the irises, which were the colour of blood.

Twist hovered above the branch casually, one leg crossed over the other while looking at the pikachu with a predatory grin.  _“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Midas! I don’t boss anyone around, I merely give_ suggestions _.”_ Twist glanced up and down Midas’ body with an appraising eye. After a moment the fairy pokémon gave a nod of approval.  _“A pikachu, eh? That’s an interesting choice.”_

Midas, the pikachu, shrugged.  _“It seemed appropriate. So, wise one, what am I doing here? Am I supposed to kill him? Or join him? What was the point in telling me about this?”_

Twist chuckled,  _“That’s not how it works, babe. Things aren’t set in stone, ya know? You have a_ choice _! Do whatever comes naturally.”_

Midas blinked.  _“Did you just call me ‘babe’?”_ Midas turned to look at Twist, who merely gave the pikachu a lascivious wink, before vanishing into thin air. Midas sighed.  _“Vague jerk…”_

Midas shifted their focus back to the fight below. It appeared that Blitz was being difficult, the electric mouse was refusing to fight and hanging back near Cody, while Izzy fought the pidgeotto alone. Midas shook its head in disbelief, a bug fighting a bird alone? That was almost comical to Midas, in a morbid way.

“Okay Izzy, keep up with the silk and try to find a tree to hide behind!” Cody yelled to Izzy. The boy spared a moment to glance down at Blitz, who seemed amused by the whole thing. “Come on, Blitz! It’s a flying type, this is a cake walk for you!”

Blitz waved a paw dismissively.  _“He started it, it’s his problem now.”_

The pidgeotto’s strategy wasn’t complex. He was focusing exclusively on Izzy, creating strong winds from a distance that could blow the small bug off the ground.

Izzy, for his part, was following Cody’s instructions as closely as possible. He hid behind a tall oak tree, using it to brave the strong gusts of wind that the pidgeotto was creating. When the little bug noticed a moment of calm, he would duck out from behind the tree and fire silk at the agitated avian.

Most of the shots landed; the pidgeotto was getting slower and slower as the silk spread and got a hold of the avian’s wings. Despite that, the bird was getting closer to Izzy’s tree, and his attacking power hadn’t changed.

Midas sighed. The pikachu couldn’t see many ways that this could go well.  _‘Too bad Twist isn’t still here. They might have an idea of where this is going…’_ Midas thought to themselves.  _‘If I focus, I can hear that caterpie’s heartbeat. Poor thing.’_

“Izzy! Calm down, it’ll be okay. Just find a place to hang around, okay? Just hang around!” Cody instructed.

Midas raised a brow.  _‘What kind of advice is that?’_

The bug pokémon, distracted by the stress, didn’t instantly understand Cody’s direction. Then it became clear, and Izzy moved.

The pidgeotto flew around the tree and found nothing. The bird pokémon was confused, he had been sure that the annoying bug had been right there…

“Do it now!” The pokémon whisperer shouted.

Before the bird pokémon knew what was happening, he felt a weight on his back. Between the extra weight and the silk restricting his movements, he almost fell out of the air right then and there. On instinct, the pidgeotto turned his head to look at the unexpected weight. For a moment the bird pokémon saw Izzy clinging to his back. The next he had silk spat into his eyes.

The bird flew erratically, the pain in his eyes made it difficult to focus on flying properly. Throughout it all, Izzy hung on tightly. The small bug started spitting silk onto the pidgeotto’s wings. Izzy’s vicinity made it easy to target the right areas to make flight impossible.

The pidgeotto crashed into the ground, and that was enough to finally knock the caterpie off of the bird’s back.

Midas blinked, quite surprised by the whole ordeal. It had found the display quite impressive, given the unfortunate start. The caterpie had climbed up the tree, and hung upside down from a branch, waiting to ambush the bird.

_‘And he got all that from "_ hang around" _?’_ Midas thought.  _‘Maybe this kid understands his pokémon better than I thought…’_

Izzy rolled until all his feet were on the ground again, and with much hesitation, he turned to look at the pidgeotto. The bird pokémon couldn’t fly any more, but that didn’t mean the fight was over. After tearing the silk from his eyes, he awkwardly marched towards Izzy with a murderous look on his face.

_“For the love of…”_ Izzy was trembling, the stress of the fight becoming too much for him.  _“Blitz, I’m sorry! I shouldn’t’ve started a fight with a random pokémon just because I want to evolve, so could you please help me!”_

The electric mouse sighed, rolled his eyes, and fired a weak bolt of electricity at the avian pokémon. The pidgeotto’s body jerked erratically for a moment, then fell to the ground, unconscious.

There was a momentary silence while everyone processed what just happened; Zebby was speechless, Izzy let out a calming breath, and Midas was laughing internally.

Cody glanced down at Blitz with a disapproving look. “You could’ve done that at any time?”

The orange cheeked mouse shrugged.  _“Yeah, but this was more entertaining.”_ Blitz gestured towards Izzy, who had started glowing.  _“And it might even have been helpful. Wins all around!”_

Cody looked at Izzy with a mix of excitement and fear. He nervously walked over, followed by Blitz and Zebby.

_“Wow! This feels_ weird. _”_ The little caterpie’s body was glowing, getting brighter and brighter, until his body started morphing, shifting back and forth between what he is currently and what he is trying to become.

A few moments later, where once there was a caterpie, there was now a metapod. Izzy’s new body was mostly the same shape and size as when he was a caterpie, but now he was covered in a tough segmented shell.

“Cool,” Cody said with a grin.

Izzy blinked. Then twice.  _“I can’t move. This was a terrible idea.”_ He spoke in a calm monotone that hid his sudden panic.

Blitz started chuckling as Cody reached down to pick the bug pokémon up.

“Don’t worry Izzy, you’ll evolve again soon.” The boy cast a nervous glance towards Zebby. “Right?”

The bug catcher nodded. “Probably. For bug pokémon it’s usually the first evolution that’s the trickiest.”

“See?” Cody smiled. “Now, let’s get back to walking.”

The group started walking again, and slowly things calmed down. Blitz seemed more relaxed in the forest, Izzy was trying not to enter a full-on panic about being unable to move, and Cody and Zebby resumed their awkward conversation.

Midas watched the group walk off for a moment. So many thought through its mind. The scarlet cheeked pokémon was left with too many questions.

The pikachu gave a sigh and followed the group at a distance. 

* * *

 

The sun started to set as the group crossed the boundary line into Pewter City. The general mood in the group was exhaustion. The only exception to this was Izzy, who having evolved into a pokémon that couldn’t move, had been carried the rest of the way to Pewter.

That meant that when wild pokémon wanted to fight, the only capable pokémon between Cody and Zebby had been Blitz. The electric mouse was twitchy, low on energy and so close to collapsing.

Cody yawned. His arms were getting tired. Izzy wasn’t that heavy, but after a few hours of the weight, it was beginning to wear him down.

The pokémon whisperer quickly glanced around. The setting sun, mixed with Cody’s tired mind, masked some of the finer details of Pewter City’s landscape. Despite that, Cody found something about the area to be odd.

Zebby let out a long yawn. “Well, here we are, the stone-grey city…” The bug catcher let out a chuckle. “It’s getting late; you have any plans on sleeping?”

Cody lazily glanced at the other boy. “You mean like, a where? I guess I could crash at the Pokémon Centre.” Cody shuddered at the thought.

_“I’m not looking forward to that…”_ Blitz mumbled tiredly. Cody nodded his head in Blitz’s direction to show he shared the opinion.

Zebby gave Cody a curious look. “You’re gonna have to explain that issue in greater detail at some point. Anyways, you can crash at my place, if ya want.”

“That’s very generous…” Cody glanced at the bug catcher wearily. “Hey, Zebby, don’t take this the wrong way but…” The pokémon whisperer glanced down at Blitz. “Blitz, I assume you’ve been doing that ‘deep reading’ thing on Zebby since we started walking together, yeah? Is he trustworthy?”

Cody quickly glanced at Zebby. If the other boy was offended by the precaution he didn’t show it. He did seem mildly curious, though.

Blitz yawned.  _“He wants something from you. I don’t think he’s malicious, though. Probably gonna ask for a favour in return or something. In my_ humble  _opinion,”_ Blitz held up a paw and made a thumbs up gesture,  _“I’d take that deal. I don’t want to risk the Nurse Joy around here.”_

Zebby smiled. “A thumbs up, that’s good right?”

Cody tried to smile casually. “Yeah… it’s pretty good. Your house has an extra bed, or something?”

Zebby nodded. “Or something.”

“So, where’s your house?”

“Oh, just around that corner.” The bug catcher walked ahead, leading the other boy onwards.

* * *

The scarlet cheeked pikachu watched Cody’s group from atop a building. Nothing much had happened recently, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to follow them after leaving the forest.

Midas was also starting to wonder why it had agreed to this in the first place. The pikachu started counting in its mind, and just as it reached zero, the wind picked up for a moment and the smell of the city was replaced with that of a forest.

_“You’re getting predictable.”_ Midas turned to look at the fairy-like pokémon. The pikachu raised a brow.  _“Is that lemonade?”_

_“I thought you deserved a treat.”_ Twist offered the lemonade. No more words were exchanged between them until Midas took the lemonade with a sigh. Twist flashed its predatory grin once again.  _“Also, you didn’t agree to do anything. All I did was point out an interesting human._ You  _took care of the rest, so thanks for that.”_

Midas sipped the lemonade before speaking.  _“Hmm, maybe you should pay more attention to what’s going on back home?”_

Twist shrugged playfully.  _“Nah, nothing major’s happening over there for the next five months…”_ Twist blinked absently.  _“Or, it could’ve happened yesterday. I’m actually not sure anymore…”_

Midas rolled its eyes.  _“Talking to you is such a headache, did you know?”_

_“Imagine what it’s like_ being  _me.”_ Twist burst into uncontrollable giggles.  _“Ah, it’s literally agony…”_

They both fell into a silence for a time, the only sounds were those of Pewter City’s nightlife and Midas sipping away at the lemonade.

Midas sighed.  _“Look, I’m gonna keep an eye on the kid for a week or so. Might fight him, or see how entertaining things turn out… but I can’t promise anything more after that.”_

Twist snickered.  _“I want you to remember this conversation in a month’s time. We’re not gonna see each other for a while, so I won’t be able to remind you.”_

Midas blinked.  _“What’s that supposed…?”_ The pikachu stopped when it noticed that Twist had left already. It could only sigh.  _“Jerk…”_

The pikachu abandoned the lemonade cup. It left the roof behind, off to explore Pewter City in search of hiding spots for the daylight hours.


	7. Pewter City Museum

“Your house is _weird._ ” Cody sat on the couch in Zebby’s room, wrapped in a quilt cover. The boy had been very tired the previous night, which made any abnormalities of the house easy to ignore. Now, seeing the room with a clearer mind, several things struck him as odd.

Cody recalled that from the outside the house looked like it was only one storey tall. In actuality, the house also had a basement that was of equal size as the floor above. The basement seemed to be where the bedrooms were, along with the bathroom, while the upper floor was the living area. That of course meant that the bedrooms had no windows or natural light, only the artificial light of a bulb.

The walls in Zebby’s room were painted olive green. Cody looked closer as the walls; there were words written across them in red. It was difficult to read, on account of the handwriting and the subject matter. Cody blinked, trying to make sense of it. _‘Is that a list of the pokémon in the bug type genus?’_

On the other side of the couch was Blitz. The white mouse was twitching erratically, agitated by the room. He looked around and saw nothing but corners. There was only one exit from the room, which was setting off Blitz’s survival instincts. On the other hand, there was Izzy, who was laid at an angle on the couch’s armrest. Izzy wasn’t bothered about the room and the threats it could potentially hold. The bug pokémon was far too busy stewing about being unable to move.

“You really think so?” The owner of the room let out a yawn. “This is what all the houses around here are like.”

Cody turned his head in confusion. “Really? Basement bedrooms are the norm around here?”

“Of course!” Now it was Zebby who seemed surprised. “Where else would you put a bedroom?”

“The first floor?” The other boy shrugged a shoulder. “Or maybe the ground floor, but I’ve never heard of basement bedrooms being a standard thing.”

“Huh, weird.” The bug catcher shrugged. His attention moved from the strange idea at the sound of electricity and a continuous drumming of two things repeatedly hitting one another. He nervously glanced at the pokémon in Cody’s company. “Um, are they okay?”

The pokémon whisperer glanced at the white and green creatures. He blinked thrice in surprise at the scene before him. Blitz was punching Izzy. Repeatedly. Blitz’s paws had blue sparks dancing around them as he punched Izzy’s exoskeleton, creating a bit of a rhythm as he went. Meanwhile, the cocoon pokémon kelp flashing white after each hit. He didn’t seem to be in much pain by the whole ordeal.

“Blitz, why are you assaulting our new team member?” Cody asked, bemused.

 _“He’s trying to break my cocoon!”_ Izzy answered, sounding slightly winded but cheerful.

Blitz nodded before punching the bug again. _“And he’s using harden so that I don’t knock him out right away.”_

“Okay…” Cody glanced at the bug catcher in the room. “They seem to think that this will speed up Izzy’s evolution. Is that possible?”

Zebby shrugged at the idea. “I suppose the constant assault could cause an adrenaline surge, which could trigger an evolution… maybe?”

There was an awkward moment pause between the two boys. Cody lost himself momentarily in the sounds of water pipes changing pressure, and the oddly metallic vibration as the Blitz punched Izzy’s shell.

Cody avoided looking at Zebby; Blitz’s assessment of the bug catcher’s motives from last night running through his head. The cautious pokémon had implied that Zebby wanted something from him, which was a thought that Cody found mildly concerning. On the other hand, the bug catcher had done Cody quite a favour in letting him avoid staying at the Pokémon Centre.

 _‘I should just ask.’_ Cody chastised himself. _‘I’m probably just overthinking the situation, as per usual.’_

“So, Zebby.” Cody met the bug catcher’s eye. “You’ve been very… generous, is there anything that I can do to return the favour?”

Zebby stared at Cody for a moment, before letting out a sigh of relief. “I’m so happy you brought that up. You’re going to be travelling around the entire region, right?”

Cody raised a brow in surprise. “Yeah?”

“Well, I was hoping that I could tag along, just until you get to Fuchsia City.” Zebby smiled bashfully. “You _are_ planning on going to Fuchsia City eventually, right?”

Cody nodded while reaching into his backpack. After searching for a moment he found his map. He pulled it out and studied it for a time. The boy had a dubious look in his eyes when he said. “It’s just, Fuchsia is at the other end of the region, and the routes there are kind of long and tangled.” Cody glanced up from his map to the other boy. “Also, I’m more interested in sight-seeing, which means I’ll probably move at a slowpoke’s pace compared to someone doing their gym challenge, for example. Wouldn’t it be easier to go on your own?”

“Not really…” Zebby gestured to the walls of his room, and all of their associated bug-type information. “I only really have an interest in bug-types, you know? I don’t want to catch pokémon outside of that group, which means I don’t have many options for team members.” The bug catcher grabbed a pokéball. Cody noticed that it was similar in colour to Blitz’s ball; half pale yellow and half orange.

Zebby released the pokémon inside. After the light faded, Cody examined the released creature. As expected, it was a bug pokémon. Its body was primarily yellow in colour, and it seemed to be in a cocoon stage like Izzy. One thing that stood out to Cody was the drill-shaped spikes jutting out from below the bug pokémon’s head.

“This is my only pokémon, Kakuna.” Zebby needlessly gestured in the kakuna’s direction. “Now, the butterfree line's an option, but since they’re both pretty immobile during their middle stage, I think it wouldn’t go too well at the moment.” The bug-catcher looked up in thought. “Then there’s paras and venonat, both good options, except they involve going through a cave with one cocoon pokémon.” Zebby let out a nervous chuckle. “That just leaves scyther and pinsir, which can only be found in the Kanto region safari zone, in Fuchsia City.”

Cody blinked, slightly bemused by all the information. “There’s only six species of bug pokémon in Kanto?”

“Yep!” Zebby smiled. “My dream is to go to the Unova region. Their bug pokémon have a tendency to have elemental secondary types, which I find _fascinating._ ”

Cody sighed. “Back on topic, you’re saying you want me and my team to act as bodyguards for you?”

The bug catcher nodded nervously. “Basically.”

Cody crossed his arms and thought. It wasn’t like he minded the idea, not really. But the boy did find himself wondering if this would lead to some uncomfortable situations. Cody glanced at kakuna that Zebby had released; it had started hopping around the room. It had more mobility than Izzy seemed to.

Cody shifted his focus to the kakuna’s pokéball, and felt uneasy. The pokémon whisperer couldn’t stop himself from thinking about what he recently learned about the ubiquitous ball.

 _‘That could certainly lead to some conflict on its own…’_ Cody shook his head, trying to focus on brighter things.

He turned to glance towards his pokémon, who were still engaged with their violent experiment. “Either of you mind if Zebby tags along?”

 _“There’s safety in numbers…”_ Blitz shrugged between his strikes. Cody nodded, he had been expecting that sort of response.

 _“Not at all~”_ Izzy responded in a sing-song manner. Cody turned his head in confusion, but ultimately he shrugged his shoulders at the bug pokémon’s strange antics.

Cody let out a long sigh, before focussing back on Zebby. “I mean, if you really want to?”

“Great!” Zebby gave an excited grin as he jumped up from his bed. “You aren’t gonna regret this, I promise.”

“Oh, I know,” Cody smirked. “ _You_ might, though.”

Zebby gave the other boy a nervous look. “Why’s that?”

Cody stood up, packing his map away as he did. The boy had an excited look to his eyes. “I’m a sightseer, and _you’re_ a local.”

The bug catcher blinked at the statement. He let out a long sigh.

* * *

 

Seeing Pewter City with fresh eyes was an even stranger experience to Cody’s mind than his new travelling companion’s house situation. Being a city, it had the expected paved roads and sidewalks, but besides that, the city was surrounded by a large amount of grass and nature, which Cody found comforting.

What Cody found to be an oddity were all the large rocks that were scattered around, poking out above the grass. Then there were the mounds of dirt, clearly recently placed. They looked sort of like tiny mountains spread around the landscape.

When Cody asked Zebby about, the answer didn’t do much to ease his confusion.

“The gym leader’s siblings like them.”

Cody raised a brow. “The gym leader can change the environment of the city just like that? Doesn’t the mayor decide that or something?”

Zebby shrugged. “Gym leaders’ are usually very popular in the community, they can get away with a lot.”

Cody rolled his eyes. “Makes sense. How far away is the museum?”

The boys’ pokémon were following behind them. Blitz felt better for being outside, and above ground, but he was still put off by the inclusion of Zebby’s kakuna.

The reason for this was twofold. Firstly, the kakuna was caught in a standard pokéball, which meant Blitz couldn’t completely account for her mental state. And secondly, and much more aggravatingly, was Izzy flirting with her.

 _“Those are some_ nice _drills you’ve got there~,”_ Izzy said in his sing-song tone. Any positive effect it might have had was diminished somewhat by the fact that the metapod was being dragged around by Blitz since he still couldn’t move.

The kakuna could move on her own, hopping around and using her drill-like appendages for balance. Being a cocoon pokémon, she had to rotate her entire body to properly look at Izzy.

 _“Sorry, I don’t date cocoons.”_ She said dismissively. _“And certainly not ones that can’t move on their own.”_

 _“Yeah, that makes sense…”_ Izzy mumbled, dejected.

Blitz rolled his eyes before turning to look at the yellow bug. _“That’s a bit hypocritical, don’t you think?”_

 _“Call me what you want.”_ The kakuna corrected her hopping motion so that she was looking forward again. _“I refuse to settle for anything less than the best.”_

Izzy was quiet after that point, something that Blitz found odd after knowing him for a day. The electric mouse focussed an uncertain look on the kakuna, before focussing his attention back on where the group was heading.

They were standing outside the museum that Cody had been so interested in. So far, the museum was the only building that Cody or Blitz had seen in Pewter City that was more than one storey tall. The building’s walls appeared to be made of sandstone that had been carefully cut into the shapes of bricks, maintaining a balance between an organised layout and an uneven rocky texture.

Cody giggled under his breath in excitement. The museum was living up to his expectations.

“So, this is the Pewter City Museum.” Zebby yawned dismissively. “Home to countless exhibits about rocks, space with a focus on rocks… from space. As well as rock type pokémon! Oh, and fossils.” The bug catcher pinched the bridge of his nose. “Riveting stuff, let me tell ya.”

“Nothing you say can ruin this for me,” Cody smirked at Zebby as he stepped through the museum’s double doors.

Zebby grumbled but followed him anyways.

The main room of the museum had tiled floors and white walls, and a high ceiling. Cody could see stairs going to another level of the museum, and two large archways that led to separate exhibits.

The two boys walked up to the entrance desk with their pokémon following in tow.

The lady behind the desk gave the pokémon a curious look but didn’t say anything about them. “Hello, and welcome to the Pewter City Museum of Science. It’s 50 dollars for a ticket.” She glanced at their pokémon and quickly added. “Pokémon go free. We also have a special guest speaker with us today.” Cody heard her voice become monotone as she started reciting a line she’d probably learnt that morning. “He’s a foreign biologist who is studying the Kantonian Factor. Tickets for this lecture and general access to the museum are 90 dollars.”

Zebby pinched the bridge of his nose. “Oh, that’s just great…”

Cody, on the other hand, was smiling brightly. “We’ll take two lecture tickets, please. When is it, by the way?”

She took the boys’ money and handed them the tickets before answering. “Around ten minutes from now, so I guess you guys are pretty lucky.”

“I guess we are!” Cody knelt down to pick up Blitz and Izzy, before entering the museum with a spring in his step.

“Not that lucky…” Zebby sighed, returning his kakuna, before reluctantly following the other boy.

* * *

Cody was absolutely ecstatic.

After entering the museum Cody quickly made his way towards the fossil section. The room was filled to the brim with the aeons old remains of extinct pokémon.

Most of the fossils in the room were either Helix or Dome, as they were the fossils of pokémon that were native to the Kanto region. These fossils were put on display behind glass, grouped by their estimated ages. There were different types of fossils besides Helix and Dome of pokémon that used to be native to other regions when they were alive; those fossils were few and far between, and generally had more information about their related species of pokémon.

But it was the fossil in the centre of the room that really grabbed the group's attention.

 _“What the heck is_ that _?”_ Blitz asked from atop Cody's head. The boy couldn't see the pikachu, but he could tell that the pokémon was somewhat disturbed by the fossil.

Cody supposed that made sense if he thought about it from a pokémon's perspective; they were basically standing in front of pokémon’s corpse. The boy gave the room a quick glance and found it was empty beside them. “ _That_ is a kabutops. Well, the fossilised skeleton of one, but still.”

The fossil was incredibly interesting to Cody because of how rare fossils of fully evolved pokémon were, along with it being a  _full-body_ fossil, instead of just an arm or a tooth. Cody’s eyes were instantly drawn to the fossil's bladed forearms, which seemed to be made of a metal based on how they gleamed in the light.

The more Cody studied the fossil, the more he was surprised by how frail it looked. It had thin legs, arms, and a lean body. It was a wonder that this creature could support the weight of its own head, which was quite large compared to its body, like an oversized helmet. The skull had four large holes, two were clearly eye sockets, and Cody could only assume that the other two were ear holes. The boy found the skull quite unnerving.

The size of the skeleton stuck out to him. It was  _small._ He looked down at the plaque on the fossil's platform. The fossilised skeleton was estimated to be around four foot in height.

“Huh.” Cody blinked, surprised. “It's shorter than me.”

 _“Still too big for me.”_ Blitz was shivering.

“What were you expecting? It's not a tyrantrum.” Zebby rolled his eyes. “Kabutops were water-based hunters, so they needed to be small and slim so that they could swim quickly.”

Cody raised a brow at the other boy. “For someone who claims to hate museums, you sure know a lot about the subject matter.”

“Everyone needs a break from Entomology every now and again.” The bug catcher shrugged. “We should start heading towards that lecture,” Zebby said disdainfully. “Considering we paid extra for those tickets…”

 _“He's pretty hostile, isn't he?”_ Izzy spoke up from Cody's arms.

The pokémon whisperer nodded at the bug pokémon with a mischievous grin on his face. “You're right. Let's go!” The boy turned around and started heading back towards the museum's main area.

Zebby rolled his eyes, already following the other boy.

 _“So, what is this 'Kantonian Factor' they were talking about?”_ Blitz asked.

“Huh. I guess it makes sense that you've never heard of it…” Cody whispered, conscious of the increasing amount of people in the museum. “You'll find out in a moment.”

The white mouse pokémon huffed in annoyance.

* * *

 

The lecture was taking place in a raised-auditorium; the nearest row of chairs was on the same level as the door, and each row after was a step below. At the bottom of the stairs, there was a desk with a laptop and a cable connecting it to a projector. Cody had never been in a room like this before, and the nearest parallel that he could think of was a movie theatre.

Less than half of the chairs were taken. A small percent of the group appeared to be scientists, who generally sat in between the middle and bottom rows, while the rest seemed to be families with small children who didn’t much care what row they were on as long as they remained in their family group.

Cody was confused by this. He pondered what the appeal would be for those children, but he quickly disregarded the thought. He had more pressing concerns at the moment, specifically finding some unoccupied chairs on the back row.

Fortunately, there were two seats next to each other free, and the two boys claimed them. Cody was excited and wrapped his arms around Izzy in such a way that the cocoon pokémon could still see the presentation if he wanted. Blitz meanwhile hung on Cody’s back and peaked his head around the boy’s shoulder.

Zebby let out a disgruntled sigh, but mostly remained silent as they waited for things to start.

Standing by that desk at the bottom of the room was a blond man in a lab coat. He was so far away that Cody couldn’t get a good look at his face, but from the near constant glint near the man’s eyes, as he moved around, the boy was fairly sure he was wearing glasses.

The man checked his watch, shrugged, and turned to look at the group staring down at him.

“Hello, gentlepeople. I am Dr Jack Penborg, I am a biologist from the Kalos region.” He put on an over-exaggerated grin and waved at the people. The doctor had a hard ignored accent.

Cody and Zebby glanced at each other. Cody looked like he was trying to avoid laughing, while Zebby glared daggers back at him.

 _“Oh boy…”_ Blitz mumbled.

Dr Penborg yawned. “So, as a biologist, I generally do studies to figure out  _how_ life works. DNA, different genes, that sort of thing.” The man pressed a button on a remote, and the project switched on.

The man walked over to the laptop and started a slideshow that was then projected onto the wall.

“The 'Kantonian Factor', for those unaware, is a term used to describe the strange colouration of pokémon native to the Kanto region, go figure.” Dr Penborg gestured to the slideshow, which had images of common pokémon from Kanto.

“Now, to you, these pokémon would look quite normal, but to the rest of the world, they're very strange.” The man took a breath. “To begin, pokémon with the Kantonian Factor have what is best described as a 'limited' number of colours. For instance, Kanto gloom have reddish bodies and an orange flower growing on its head, whereas gloom without this trait have dark blue bodies and red flowers.”

The man stopped for a moment, scanning the crowd. He seemed to stop and focus on Cody, which made the boy a tad uncomfortable.

“Huh, what a stroke of luck.” The doctor grinned. “Sorry for putting you on the spot, but would the red-haired child with the pikachu on their shoulder please come down here?”

Cody gulped. The other people in the room started looking around until all eyes were on him. Their stares put him on edge. And if the electric in the air was any indication, Blitz was on high alert as well.

“Don’t worry!” The man reassured. “It’s just for a practical demonstration. Bring your pikachu along with you, if you wouldn’t mind.”

Cody nodded nervously, passing Izzy over to Zebby, before standing up and walking down the stairs to the scientist. The feeling of everyone’s eyes bearing down on him from around and above caused the boy to periodically shiver. Cody could only imagine at what Blitz’s nerves were like.

“Thank you. Now, can everyone see this young one’s pikachu?” There were several nods amongst the crowd. Blitz tried to suppress an uncontrolled electric outburst; there were so many people staring at him…

“You okay there, buddy?” Cody whispered. If anyone heard him, they didn't show it.

 _"I'll be fine,"_ Blitz assured him. The small pokémon took a calming breath, but it did little to help.

Dr Penborg gestured at Blitz. “This is an example of a pikachu with the aforementioned Kantonian Factor. You can tell by the white fur and orange cheek pouches."

Blitz blinked, momentarily distracted from his nerves to examine the white fur on his arms.

“Now, this here is an example of a pikachu, an Alolan one to be precise,  _without_ the Kantoian Factor.” The man threw an odd looking pokéball, half white and half red, into the air. In a burst of white light, another pikachu appeared.

The man held out an arm, and the pikachu landed on it, moving until she was hanging from his shoulder.

There were shocked gasps from the younger members of the audience and some curious looks from some of the adults in the group.

Dr Penborg's pikachu had thinner fur than Blitz, which Cody assumed was because of her Alolan nature. Besides that, the pikachu's fur was a shocking electric yellow, and the cheeks pouches were bright red. Cody got a look at the Alolan pikachu's tail; the end was heart shaped.

Blitz was alarmed. _“Okay, that’s strange.”_

That got the other pikachu’s attention. She glanced at Blitz, a curious look in her eyes, but it quickly passed and the foreign pikachu relaxed and grinned. _“You a local? Nice fur, man.”_

Blitz’s nerves seemed to calm. _“Thanks. Um, you too? Oh, yeah, I’m a ‘local’.”_ Blitz shook his head. _“I’m sorry, but you look_ freaking _weird.”_

The foreign pikachu giggled. _“Same to you, dude.”_

“Quite a difference, wouldn’t you say?” Dr Penborg spoke up. “Now, we know what gene causes this colour difference; what we _don’t_ know is where it came from, or why it’s so dominant.”

Cody raised a brow. “Dominant? What do you mean by that?”

The man snickered. “I was getting to that, child.” Cody blushed when he realised that he’d draw the audience’s attention back to him. Dr Penborg smiled. “Anyways, if a pokémon with the Kantonian Factor breeds with one without it, the resulting child is almost guaranteed to have the Factor. This also applies to pokémon that aren’t native to the Kanto region. Which is why some other regions take special precautions when Kantonian pokémon are spotted without an accompanying trainer. Also, a special license is required to breed Kantonian pokémon when outside of the Kanto region…”

Dr Penborg continued speaking about the subject for quite a while, and since he never told Cody to sit back down, the boy didn't. He didn't mind too much since he was eavesdropping on Blitz and the foreign pikachu's conversation. It was the most relaxed that Blitz had seemed since Cody had met him, which the boy didn't want to interrupt.

"And that's why it's a legal requirement in Kalos to name any pokémon you capture-" The scientist had gone on a tangent at some point, which was interrupted by a piercing alarm.

People looked around frantically, unnerved by the sudden alarm. Dr Penborg frowned. “Huh, wonder what that could be. Possible thievery? Quite strange…” The man shrugged with a grin. “Très bien, allons-y!”

The Alolan pikachu threw her arms into the air in excitement.  _“Oui monsieur!”_

The doctor quickly made his way up the stairs and left the small room behind.

“ _We_ have _to follow them!_ ”Electrical sparks had appeared around Blitz's cheeks.

Cody looked up, surprised. “Why would we-“

 _“It'll be an adventure!”_ Blitz exclaimed, rolling his eyes. “ _Does it matter? Let's go already!”_

The boy sighed and shrugged his shoulders. “Sure, why not?”

Cody ran towards the exit; when passing Zebby, the boy stopped to grab Izzy. Cody looked the other boy in the eye. “Come on!”

“What?” The bug catcher asked, staring at his travelling companions like he'd gone mad.

Cody shrugged his shoulders. “Side-quest? I don't know, just come on!” With that, Cody ran out of the room.

Zebby sighed and quickly followed.

* * *

 

It didn't take the boys very long to find Dr Penborg. He was leaning against the railings, looking down at the floor below.

“Hey, Doc, I know this must seem kinda strange, but I was curious about the alarm. Do you know what set it off?” Cody said as he went to stand a respectable distance from the scientist.

Dr Penborg quickly glanced at the boys, before looking back down the stairs with a perplexed expression on his face. “Well, I definitely have some theories.” The man gestured at the floor below.

Curious, the boys leaned over the railings. Both boys’ eyes widened in horror, and their mouths dropped open.

Standing on the ground floor of the museum was the kabutops fossil skeleton, its bones an unnatural yellow. The fossil turned its head to look up at the group with a sickening crack. It let out a chilling screech, before jumping up to the next floor, and landing on the railings.

Everyone instantly backed up. Now that the fossil was so close Cody could see that where the creature’s eyes were supposed to be, there were instead glowing red orbs.

 _"Well, that figures."_ Blitz sighed dejectedly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, that took a while. I'm not particularly happy with how this chapter turned out, but at least it's over and I can move on. Next chapter's coming out...whenever my boss isn't yelling at me to program this thing.
> 
> If you liked this chapter, or you think there are ways it could've been improved, feel free to tell me about it. Also, yesterday I posted another pokémon story. It's set in Johto, and it's about a mystery. The two stories share a universe, but I'm not sure how much they'll interact. If you've got time, it would mean a lot to me if that story got some more viewership.
> 
> Anyways, shameless self-promotion over, have a nice day.
> 
> Updated: 01/07/19


	8. Fossil Rampage

The reanimated skeleton let out an ear-piercing screech.

The sound was deafening; Cody covered his ears on reflex, to little success. The kabutops lunged forwards, with its metallic blades poised to cut deeply into Cody’s body.

Cody didn’t move. Fear had the boy frozen in place. He could feel his heartbeat increasing as the walking fossil’s blades got closer to his body…

The next thing Cody knew he was on the ground. His body was aching. He scanned around frantically, trying to figure out the situation. He saw the hollow kabutops, with its blades stretched apart as if it had just tried to slice something in two. The next thing Cody noticed was Penborg on top of him. _‘He must’ve pushed me out of the way…’_

The fossil turned its head to look down at Cody and Penborg, its bones snapping and creaking in the process. Cody gulped.

The reanimated fossil was struck by a bolt of lightning, soon followed by a familiar sparking sound. The fossil seemed to be stunned for a moment. It turned its head around, looking for the source of the bolt.

Cody had already spotted the two pikachu standing on the railings. Seeing Blitz caused Cody some momentary panic as tried to find Izzy. He let out a sigh of relief when he realised that the cocoon pokémon was what his arms were so tightly wrapped around. _‘Jeez, I am out of it.’_

 _“What are you doing?”_ Blitz yelled, _“Run away!”_

Blitz threw himself from the railing at the kabutops, his paws crackling with electricity. The fossil slashed at the white pokémon, who in turn landed on the metallic blades with his electrified paws. The charge travelled through the metal directly into the bones. This seemed to stun the fossil for a moment, and before it had the chance to recover, the Alolan pikachu joined in with a thunderbolt.

“Ah-ha, a distraction! Best make use of it while it last, yes?” Penborg jumped up with inhuman speed. He bent down to help Cody up, before grabbing the boy’s arms and quickly dragging him towards the stairs to the floor below. “Try not to lag behind, bug catcher!”

Zebby, who up until this point had been paralyzed by fear, managed to nod at Penborg. In a daze he moved to follow them down the stairs, leaving the two electric pokémon to deal with the reanimated fossil.

* * *

Blitz’s tension levels were rising rapidly with no end in sight. The knowledge that Cody was moving away from the fight did little to ease the pokémon’s nerves in that moment.

Blitz was looking at an abomination. The bones of a long-dead pokémon, turned a disgusting yellow by age, had been reanimated. Without its skin or muscles, it was plain to see just how thin its bones were; they looked as if they would snap like twigs if met with any force, and yet they held firm.

But the thing that caused an uncontrollable shiver to run through Blitz’s spine was the _sounds._ A disjointed concert of bones cracking, scraping against one another, and a strange clicking sound coming from the unnatural creature’s skull.

The horrible creature started slashing at Blitz erratically. Because of the way its arms bent it couldn’t really stab Blitz, which the white furred pokémon was using to his advantage. He was definitely faster than the reanimated bones were, so dodging wasn’t too difficult.

The Alolan pikachu kept her distance from the kabutops so that she could periodically shock the walking fossil. This caused the undead creature to wildly slash the air as it turned to face the source of its pain. Blitz then take advantage of the kabutops’ distraction to deliver a thunder charged punch straight to the creature’s exposed ribs.

Afterwards, it tried to slash Blitz, but then the Alolan pikachu would distract it again with an electric shock from a distance. This process continued like a horrific dance; Blitz would dodge and punch, the fossil would slash at the air, and the foreign pikachu would distract, each step followed with little variance.

 _“Okay, so, it’s freaky, but not too bright.”_ Blitz was a little winded from the dodging but still moved swiftly around the unnatural threat. A quick glance at the yellow pikachu confirmed that she agreed with him. Blitz winked at her. _“Think we can just keep doing this till it faints?”_

 _“Huh, that’s a concern.”_ The Alolan pikachu mused aloud. She shocked the fossil again before continuing. _“Can it even faint though? I’ve never really experienced anything like this.”_

Blitz suppressed a shiver; he couldn’t afford to let his nerves get the best of him at the moment. He narrowly avoided the fossil’s blade and proceeded to punch it in the ribs again. As ancient pokémon staggered Blitz hit it again before getting some distance.

 _“Ghost types can faint, can’t they?”_ Blitz took a shaky breath. _“We are still fighting a_ pokémon _here, right?”_

The kabutops started growling, and the red glare of its eyes intensified. Blitz gulped, and that was his mistake. With a speed that it hadn’t shown before the abomination stepped forwards and slashed down.

Blitz barely avoided the blade. He didn’t avoid the kick. The electric pokémon was lifted into the air by the force. He started to panic; he no longer had control of his manoeuvring. The skeleton slashed at Blitz and made contact, leaving a vertical gash across his body. The extra force sent Blitz over the rail and falling towards the ground floor.

Someone yelling his name was the last thing he heard before hitting the ground and losing consciousness.

* * *

“Blitz!” Cody screamed. The white furred pokémon seemed to fall in slow motion, before crashing onto the floor and bouncing. Cody was horrified to see Blitz’s off white fur smeared with crimson.

 _‘He’s bleeding…’_ Cody stared at the unmoving form of Blitz, completely distracted from the world around him. Then in an instant, his priorities shifted and he ripped his arm from Penborg’s grip. He frantically charged towards the injured pokémon.

He absently noticed the sound of the fossil pokémon landing a little ways away. Cody didn’t care at that moment. He didn’t react when the pokémon turned to rush him.

“What are you doing, crazy child!” Penborg yelled.

Cody blinked in surprise; he was pulled from his horror only to notice the reanimated bones running at him.

 _“Hold me up!”_ Izzy shouted from Cody’s arms. Cody did so automatically, not questioning the logic of the order until the last second.

A lot of things happened all at once. Izzy used harden, and his body flashed white. The kabutops’ blade swung down in an arc, piercing Izzy’s side despite his efforts and barely missing Cody’s shoulder as it passed. Before Cody could panic about Izzy’s wound, the cut started to glow a brilliant white.

The kabutops turned its head in confusion, before being thrown away from Cody by an unseen force. The pokémon whisperer’s first thought was that the fossil was retreating for the moment, but that idea was abandoned when it fumbled the landing.

It kept its distance, its red glare focused on the cocoon in Cody’s arms. The boy glanced down and gulped. The metapod’s eyes seemed to be hollowed out. He found it incredibly creepy.

There was a cracking sound before a blue hand forced its way out from where the cut on the cocoon had been. Pieces of the cocoon fell away as the bug pokémon tried to break his way out.

Cody shivered as he realised what was happening. “Izzy, is that you? Are you okay?”

The cocoon’s side burst open. Cody moved his arm to shield his eyes, and when he moved it away he met a pair of large sky blue eyes looking back at him.

Izzy’s body had had an extreme transformation. He looked nothing like the caterpie that he had been the previous day.

His body was more humanoid in nature and covered in midnight black fur. There were two antennae on his head. He had small three fingered hands and long feet, all of which were the same shade of blue as his eyes. He had a similarly coloured snout, with two white fangs visible.

The most noticeable difference about Izzy’s appearance was the massive butterfly wings, one of which had an ‘X’ shaped mark on it.

Izzy blinked as he scanned his new body. He shook his head, remembering the current situation, before turning to face the fossil again.

The kabutops’ stance had changed. Before, where it had seemed wild and aggressive, its stance had changed into something vaguely defensive. It stood there watching them, showing more patience then the group would’ve thought it had.

Izzy’s eyes narrowed; he flapped his and rose into the air. Despite the situation, his face burst into euphoric bliss for a moment at the ability to fly. _‘Whoa…’_

Seeing a chance, the kabutops rushed forward. It swung its blade, but Izzy dodged gracefully. The butterfly pokémon flew over the fossil’s head. It leaned back to keep watch on his opponent, only to meet Izzy’s playful smirk.

A moment later the kabutops found a blob of silk at been spit at its face. The fossil was enraged, to say the least. It started slashing at bug pokémon erratically. Izzy was content to continue lazily avoiding the ancient pokémon’s blades.

Cody’s focus on the fight was broken by Penborg’s commanding tone. “Do not just stand there!”

Cody’s eyes snapped to the foreign scientist. “What?”

“Return your pikachu to its pokéball, and get to a Pokémon Centre!” Penborg made a ‘come on’ gesture towards the first-floor railing, and soon after the Alolan pikachu jumped from that railing into the doctor’s arms. “Let the proper authorities deal with this!”

Cody looked around and was surprised three police officers enter the building. They stopped, their expressions morphing into shocked disbelief at what they were seeing.

Cody quickly nodded; to say he felt out of his depths in this situation would be putting it mildly. He turned to Blitz, whose fur had gotten further soaked with crimson, and managed to find the electric-type’s pokéball shortly after.

Cody glanced at Izzy, who had continued to easily dodge and annoy the fossil pokémon, and called. “Come on Izzy, this isn’t our problem anymore!”

Izzy let out a disappointed huff. _“Fine, just give me a second…”_

The butterfly’s forehead furrowed in concentration for a moment. He stopped gliding around the kabutops. He merely hovered in one spot, in deep thought.

The fossil pokémon was about to swing again, but it stumbled. It seemed to have lost its sense of balance and started to sway around in an uncoordinated fashion. Cody thought it looked vaguely drunk.

Izzy burst into giggles. _“Ah, the joys of being a butterfree.”_

Cody blinked, unsure of what had just occurred. The boy shook his head; it didn’t really matter at the moment. “If you’re quite done? Blitz is bleeding out!”

Izzy’s exuberant expression fell away instantly. He nodded his head, and quickly flew towards the museum’s entrance, giving Cody no reason to stick around.

The pokémon whisperer believed

He left the museum without another, followed closely by Zebby and Penborg.

* * *

“I didn’t expect this today…” Zebby murmured.

Cody cast the boy a weary look. He didn’t want to admit that he had forgotten about the other boy for a moment in all the confusion, but he had and now that he was paying attention it was clear that Zebby hadn’t taken any of it well.

Cody rolled his eyes; how could anyone take that sort of thing well?

When entered the Pokémon Centre they were quickly approached by the resident Nurse Joy. News about the weird events at the museum had quickly spread, and the nurse already knew why they were there.

She had calmly requested Blitz’s pokéball, and ushered their group into a private room. It hadn’t taken long for them to stabilise Blitz, but the small pokémon was still unconscious due in part to the blood loss and intense exhaustion.

The nurse had chided Cody for overworking his pokémon. The boy didn’t know how to defend himself without explaining his unique situation, so he simply nodded and promised to do better.

Penborg hadn’t left; he seemed to be watching Cody with a curious expression, and the boy had no idea how to process it. It made him want to turn around and ask Blitz for his opinion, which only made him feel worse at the current situation.

When Zebby had asked. “Why are you hanging around, Dr Penborg?” The man’s response had been to shrug and gesture to the Alolan pikachu that was sitting on Blitz’s side with a blank expression on her face.

“I find it cruel to drag her away in a situation like this.”

Cody had nodded, but that was it.

Izzy stayed in the boy’s lap, although Cody could tell that he wanted to be flying, and had kept a constant monologue going to try and distract him. Cody hummed and grunted in the appropriate places and found he was grateful for the effort, even if he was still fixated with Blitz’s condition.

The atmosphere in the room didn’t improve at the arrival of the police.

“We’d like to ask you some questions.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took a while, and it's a lot shorter than my chapters usually are, but it seemed like a decent place to stop. I've been burnt out from work, but I recently had a week off.
> 
> Now, for some shameless self-promotion, so that I might recover from my work stress. I have another Pokémon story set in Alola, called 'Struggling Through An Alolan Nightmare'. It's probably going to be the next story I update, and I'm kind of excited to explore the story possibilities that that region allows.
> 
> Also, anyone else excited about Sword and Shield? I like scorbunny myself, even though it is probably going to be a fighting type.
> 
> Anyways, thanks for reading!
> 
> Updated: 07/07/19

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and criticism are appreciated.


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